New Mexico Jury Returns $52M Punitive Damages Verdict in Insurance Bad Faith Suit

A New Mexico jury hit Public Underwriters Liability Insurance Company (PULIC) with $52 million in punitive damages, finding the insurer violated the Unfair Practices Act in an insurance bad faith case after a decade of litigation.

On Jan. 17, an Albuquerque jury determined that PULIC, a subsidiary of The Doctors Company, willfully violated the Unfair Practices Act and engaged in conduct in reckless disregard for the interests of the insured. According to the joint final pretrial order issued by the Second Judicial District in Bernadillo County, PULIC is a Washington, D.C.-domiciled insurance company that provides medical professional liability insurance to “high risk” doctors who are unable to obtain insurance in the standard market due to their prior claim histories.