STEPHEN A. HIGGINSON, Circuit Judge:
This case involves an insurance dispute between Plaintiff Weiser-Brown Operating Company ("Weiser-Brown") and Defendant St. Paul Surplus Lines Insurance Company ("St. Paul"). On September 7, 2012, after a four-day trial, a jury found that St. Paul breached its insurance contract with Weiser-Brown by failing to pay Weiser-Brown's insurance claim for costs associated with the "loss of control" of an oil well that Weiser-Brown operated in Lavaca County, Texas. St. Paul was ordered to pay Weiser-Brown $2,290,457.03 in damages for its breach of contract. After trial, the district court awarded $1,232,328.14 in penalty interest to Weiser-Brown under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Statute (the "Prompt-Payment Statute"), Texas Insurance Code §§ 542.051-.061. The court concluded that St. Paul violated § 542.056 of the statute on November 21, 2009, when it failed to accept or reject Weiser-Brown's claim fifteen days after receiving certain requested information, and the court calculated interest accruing from the date of that violation. St. Paul timely appealed and contends that the district court erred in concluding that St. Paul violated the Prompt-Payment Statute and, alternatively, that the district court used the wrong accrual date in calculating interest under the statute. Weiser-Brown cross-appealed, claiming that the district court erred by granting judgment as a matter of law in favor of St. Paul on Weiser-Brown's bad-faith claim. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM.
Weiser-Brown, a small company based in Arkansas, operates wells that explore for oil in Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana. Weiser-Brown had a control-of-well insurance policy with St. Paul, by which St. Paul agreed to, among other things, "reimburse [Weiser-Brown] for actual costs and/or expenses incurred ... in regaining or attempting to regain control of any and all Wells Insured which get out of control." The policy explained that "a Well shall be deemed out of control ... when there is an unintended subsurface flow of oil, gas, water, and/or fluid from one subsurface zone to another subsurface zone via the bore of the Well, which cannot be controlled by the blowout preventer ... or other equipment required."
Weiser-Brown was the operator and a working-interest owner of the Viking No. 1 well, located in Lavaca County, Texas. In August 2008, while drilling the Viking No. 1, Weiser-Brown experienced a loss of control of the Viking No. 1.
On September 29, 2009, BC Johnson's Bob Kachnik informed Weiser-Brown, via e-mail, that an independent expert, David Watson, had reached a preliminary conclusion that "there was not a subsurface loss of control" of the Viking No. 1. Kachnik noted that Watson requested some additional information from Weiser-Brown, including "[a] mud log across the sidetrack wellbore"; "[a]ll daily reports prepared by the mud logger"; and "[a]ll daily mud reports prepared by Spirit's mud engineer." Kachnik asked Weiser-Brown to provide the additional information and to "advise" if it believed Watson's conclusion was incorrect. Weiser-Brown continued to send documents to BC Johnson in October and November 2009. On November 6, 2009, Weiser-Brown sent BC Johnson "the [s]idetrack log."
On February 8, 2010, Kachnik informed Weiser-Brown that after reviewing the additional information, Watson had not changed his conclusion that the Viking No. 1 was never out of control. The e-mail from Kachnik concluded: "Again, please review this report and if you believe that the conclusions reached in the report are incorrect, please advise accordingly and provide any information or documentation in support." In March and April 2010, St. Paul sent two letters to Weiser-Brown explaining that it had not received a response from Weiser-Brown to Watson's report and that it would close the claim in thirty days if no response was received. On April 26, 2010, Weiser-Brown responded that it was "studying the matter" and would "respond to that report shortly." On June 7, 2010, Weiser-Brown sent a one-page response to Watson's report, challenging his neutrality and conclusion. On June 23, 2010, St. Paul acknowledged receipt of Weiser-Brown's response and indicated that it would forward the response to Watson "for further review and comment." On July 16, 2010, Weiser-Brown filed the present lawsuit.
Weiser-Brown alleged that St. Paul breached the insurance agreement and brought claims for breach of contract and for bad faith, in violation of Texas Insurance Code § 541.
The parties then submitted the prompt-payment issue to the court. After extensive briefing and oral argument, the district court issued Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. The district court concluded that St. Paul violated the Prompt-Payment Statute, specifically § 542.056(a), when it failed to accept or reject Weiser-Brown's claim within fifteen days of receiving "all items, statements, and forms required by the insurer to secure final proof of loss." Tex. Ins.Code § 542.056(a). The court found that "[b]y November 6, 2009, Weiser-Brown had complied with `most,' but not all, of the requests for information in Watson's report." The court also held that, despite any omission, "St. Paul and its adjusters did not indicate in the February 8, 2010; March 30, 2010; or April 21, 2010 correspondence that any request for information remained unfulfilled or that determination of coverage was contingent upon receiving such information." Because St. Paul did not accept or reject Weiser-Brown's claim fifteen days later, on November 21, 2009, the district court held that St. Paul was liable to Weiser-Brown for "interest on the amount of the claim at a rate of 18 percent a year" from that date. Tex. Ins.Code § 542.060(a). The court subsequently entered a final judgment ordering St. Paul to pay $1,232,328.14 in interest under the Prompt-Payment Statute.
St. Paul timely appealed and argues that the district court erred in concluding that St. Paul violated the Prompt-Payment Statute or, alternatively, the district court miscalculated the statutory interest. Weiser-Brown cross-appealed, arguing that its bad-faith claim should have gone to the jury and that the district court improperly excluded evidence of bad faith.
In this diversity case, this court applies state substantive law, but federal procedural law. Symetra Life Ins. Co. v. Rapid Settlements, Ltd., 775 F.3d 242, 248 (5th Cir.2014). "We review the district court's conclusions of law de novo and its findings of fact for clear error." RecoverEdge L.P. v. Pentecost, 44 F.3d 1284, 1290 (5th Cir.1995); see also Flowers Transp., Inc. v. M/V Peanut Hollinger, 664 F.2d 112, 113 (5th Cir.1981) ("[T]he trial judge's findings of fact are not to be overturned unless they are clearly erroneous." (citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a))); In re Matter of Complaint of Settoon Towing, L.L.C., 720 F.3d 268, 276 (5th Cir.2013) ("[W]e review interpretations of state law de novo."). We
St. Paul contends that the district court misinterpreted and misapplied § 542.056 of the Prompt-Payment Statute when it determined that St. Paul violated that section of the statute.
The Prompt-Payment Statute,
Id. (quoting Tex. Ins.Code § 542.060(a)). In order to recover interest under the Prompt-Payment Statute, an insured must establish: "(1) a claim under an insurance policy; (2) that the insurer is liable for the claim; and (3) that the insurer has failed to follow one or more sections of [the Prompt-Payment Statute] with respect to the claim." GuideOne Lloyds Ins. Co. v. First Baptist Church of Bedford, 268 S.W.3d 822, 830-31 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2008, no pet.2008) (citing Allstate Ins. Co. v. Bonner, 51 S.W.3d 289, 291 (Tex.2001), modified on other grounds, No. 00-0282, 2001 WL 1412951, at *1 (Tex.2001)). The statute is to be "liberally construed to promote the prompt payment of insurance claims." Tex. Ins.Code § 542.054.
The statute establishes a series of claim-handling and claim-payment deadlines for insurers. See Tex. Ins.Code §§ 542.055-.058. First, § 542.055, entitled "Receipt of Notice of Claim," provides that within fifteen days of receiving notice of a claim, the insurer must acknowledge receipt of the claim, commence an investigation, and request "all items, statements, and forms that the insurer reasonably believes, at that time, will be required from the claimant." Tex. Ins.Code § 542.055(a). Next, § 542.056, entitled "Notice of Acceptance or Rejection of Claim," requires the insurer to "notify a claimant in writing of the acceptance or rejection of a claim not later than the 15th business day after the date the insurer receives all items, statements, and forms required by the insurer to secure final proof of loss." Tex. Ins.Code § 542.056(a). The statute allows insurers to extend this deadline for an additional forty-five days if "the insurer is unable to accept or reject the claim" and "notif[ies] the claimant of the reasons that the insurer needs additional time." Tex. Ins.Code § 542.056(d). If the insurer accepts the claim and "notifies a claimant under [§] 542.056 that the insurer will pay a claim or part of a claim," it has five days to do so. Tex. Ins.Code § 542.057(a). Finally, § 542.058, entitled "Delay in Payment of
Section 542.060 provides the "enforcement mechanism" for the statute's deadlines. Cox Operating, L.L.C. v. St. Paul Surplus Lines Ins. Co., 795 F.3d 496, 505 (5th Cir.2015). That section provides that "[i]f an insurer that is liable for a claim under an insurance policy is not in compliance with this subchapter, the insurer is liable to pay the holder of the policy ... interest on the amount of the claim at a rate of 18 percent a year as damages, together with reasonable attorney's fees." Tex. Ins.Code § 542.060(a). This court recently held that although § 542.058 is the only section that explicitly refers to the penalties in § 542.060, "a violation of any of the Act's deadlines ... begins the accrual of statutory interest under § 542.060."
The parties do not dispute that St. Paul never accepted or rejected Weiser-Brown's claim until after the present lawsuit was filed. The question presented on appeal is whether St. Paul received "all items, statements, and forms required by the insurer to secure final proof of loss" such that § 542.056's fifteen-day deadline was triggered, and subsequently violated. See Tex. Ins.Code § 542.056(a). St. Paul argues that the district court "improperly changed the wording in 542.056" and urges us to look at "the plain meaning of the statute's language." St. Paul concedes, however, that "[t]he statute does not define what items are necessary to constitute a `final proof of loss.'"
In addition to a lack of statutory guidance, there has been little guidance from Texas courts about information covered by § 542.056. See Colonial Cnty. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Valdez, 30 S.W.3d 514, 523 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2000, no pet.) ("We are unaware of any Texas case examining what documents are `required by the insurer to secure final proof of loss' for purposes of triggering the deadlines in [§ 542.056]."). The clearest statement was made by the Texas Court of Appeals in GuideOne Lloyds Insurance Company v. First Baptist Church of Bedford,
Id. at 835. By this logic, § 542.056's reference to information "required by the insurer to secure final proof of loss" refers to information demonstrating that the insured in fact suffered a loss. According to the GuideOne court, the extent of the loss is not determinative of § 542.056 and the fifteen-day acceptance/rejection deadline. Id. at 834-35 (explaining that "GuideOne's reason for sending the letter was for a purpose other than what is relevant to this issue").
The GuideOne court relied on Colonial County Mutual Insurance Co. v. Valdez, as support for its statutory interpretation. See GuideOne, 268 S.W.3d at 835. Colonial County involved an insurance claim for car theft and an alleged violation of the Unfair Settlement Practices Act, rather than the Prompt-Payment Statute. 30 S.W.3d at 516, 522. However, because the parties urged the court to interpret the terms of the Unfair Settlement Practices Act in light of the deadlines established by the Prompt-Payment Statute, the court interpreted and discussed § 542.056. Id. at 522. The insurer had requested eight pieces of information from the insured and argued that because it did not receive all of the requested information, it never received all "items, statements, and forms required by the insurer to secure final proof of loss" and, therefore, did not fail to promptly accept or reject the claim. Id. at 522-23 (quoting Tex. Ins.Code § 542.056). Noting that it was "unaware of any Texas case examining what documents are `required by the insurer to secure final proof of loss,'" the court relied on "[c]ommon sense," to find that "materials such as service records, sets of keys, and photographs of the vehicle are irrelevant to proving the loss of the vehicle." Id. at 523. Because these missing materials were irrelevant to proving that the claimed loss occurred, the court reasoned, they did not excuse the insurer's failure to affirm or deny coverage within the deadline provided by § 542.056. Id.
St. Paul relies heavily on the Texas Supreme Court's decision in Lamar Homes, Inc. v. Mid-Continent Casualty Co., 242 S.W.3d 1 (Tex.2007). In Lamar Homes, the Texas Supreme Court, answering a question certified by this court, held that the Prompt-Payment Statute applies to an
Id. at 19.
St. Paul indicates that the reference in Lamar Homes to the "last piece of information needed to put a value on the insured's loss" means that, under § 542.056, Weiser-Brown needed to provide "evidence of the dates and amounts of its costs demonstrating loss" and "proof that it incurred the out-of-pocket costs for the loss." When read in context, however, Lamar Homes does little to guide our analysis of § 542.056 in this case. In describing how the Prompt-Payment Statute would apply to an insurer's wrongful denial of a claim for defense, and subsequent failure to pay within the statutory deadlines, the Lamar Homes court was analyzing a violation of § 542.058 rather than § 542.056.
Finally, the district court relied on Lee v. Catlin Specialty Insurance Co., 766 F.Supp.2d 812 (S.D.Tex.2011), a case involving roof damage under a wind-storm insurance policy. After hiring a roofing consultant to inspect the roof, the insurer's adjuster concluded in a report, dated March 20, 2009, that the roof damage was not caused by wind. Id. at 816. In a motion for summary judgment, the insurer argued that it did not have to notify the insured of its rejection of the claim because it never received certain pieces of
While these decisions are helpful in analyzing the contours of the proof-of-loss documentation described in § 542.056, we do not today endorse as determinative the approach taken in any one decision. Instead, we find that common to all of these decisions is the understanding that the information and documentation "required by the insurer to secure final proof of loss" under § 542.056 will depend on the facts and circumstances involved in a given case. See 13 Couch on Ins. § 189:1 ("[I]n most cases, there is no objective measure of exactly what information the insurer does and does not need, and the universe of information available in any given case varies considerably."). The documents required to prove a loss with respect to a defense claim might differ from the documents required to prove a loss with respect to a roof-damage claim that the insurer has already determined is only partially covered. Compare Lamar Homes, 242 S.W.3d at 19, with GuideOne, 268 S.W.3d at 834-35, and Lee, 766 F.Supp.2d at 826; see also 13 Couch on Ins. § 189:4 ("More so than the notice of loss, the contents of proofs of loss tend to vary by type of insurance. The common thread to proofs, of course, is that the information supplied must establish that the loss falls within the coverage terms of the policy."). Rather than embark on the challenging, perhaps impossible, task of listing each piece of information for purposes of § 542.056(a), we think it appropriate to turn to the specific facts and contract in this case, as examined and found by the district court.
On March 9, 2009, BC Johnson, St. Paul's appointed loss adjuster, sent a letter to Weiser-Brown requesting seventeen categories of information. By June 9, 2009, BC Johnson had received a significant amount of information, though not all of the information it requested. BC Johnson's Bob Kachnik wrote a letter to Weiser-Brown indicating that it had received: 1) "IADC or contractor daily drilling reports from date of spud through the end of the claim period"; 2) "Joint Operating Agreement or other Participating Agreement including division of interests and insurance provisions, if any"; 3) "[w]ritten explanation outlining what Weiser-Brown believes caused the underground well out of control event"; 4) "[o]riginal well plan" and "AFE and well permit"; 5) "[w]ell bore schematic"; 6) "Drilling Contract including any modifications or amendments"; 7) confirmation that Weiser-Brown did not plan to re-drill the well; and 8) some "[c]opies of invoice cost documentation." The letter indicated that BC Johnson still needed several documents, including additional invoices, mud logs, and noise and temperature logs. An e-mail and spreadsheet, dated June 10, 2009, showed that BC Johnson had received dated invoices from Weiser-Brown, with vendor, service, and cost descriptions, totaling $4.5 million. In addition to the $4.5 million worth of invoices, BC Johnson also received "a lot
On September 29, 2009, BC Johnson informed Weiser-Brown that an independent expert decided, based on the information provided, that there had not been a covered "subsurface loss of control" of the Viking No. 1 well. At that time, Kachnik noted that the expert requested three pieces of additional information, and Weiser-Brown responded by sending additional information. On October 29, 2009, Kachnik explained that "the information is incomplete." Kachnik stated that "[t]he mud log across the sidetrack hole stops at approximately 7,970 feet. We would like to see the rest of this log through the total depth of 10,757 feet." Kachnik also asked for "the mud check sheets filled out every day by the mud engineer." On November 6, 2009, Weiser-Brown sent "the Sidetrack log" to BC Johnson.
The district court found very precisely that as of November 6, 2009, "Weiser-Brown had complied with `most,' but not all, of the requests for information in Watson's report." As the district court emphasized, neither St. Paul nor its adjuster requested additional information in its later correspondence or ever indicated that the determination of coverage was dependent on missing documentation. Based on all of the provided documents, St. Paul's retained expert concluded in September 2009 that there had been no covered event at all. St. Paul maintained this position through the entire claims-handling process and through the trial. The district court concluded that St. Paul's request that Weiser-Brown respond to Watson's report if it disagreed, "was not a reasonable request for information necessary or required to determine whether the Viking No. 1 was a well `out of control.'" St. Paul contends, however, that three pieces of information were missing, such that the fifteen-day deadline provided by § 542.056 never began to run. First, St. Paul claims that although Weiser-Brown submitted invoices, it did not submit evidence, such as checks, showing that it actually paid those invoices, and thus did not establish that it experienced an out-of-pocket, compensable loss, until after the lawsuit was filed. Second, St. Paul claims that it requested, but never received, "proof of the claimed insurable interest."
We affirm the district court's factual finding that these few additional items did not operate to nullify application of § 542.056. By November 6, 2009, Weiser-Brown had repeatedly answered St. Paul's numerous requests, providing information that established that an actual loss occurred, when, where, and how it occurred, as well as $4.5 million dollars of supporting invoices. St. Paul's expert assessed this information to conclude that the loss was not covered by the insurance policy, a position that St. Paul never communicated as notification of rejection of Weiser-Brown's claim yet pursued into the lawsuit as its reason for denying the claim, which the jury rejected. Not only was information alleged to have been missing not requested in communications from St. Paul — notably, "checks evidencing an out-of-pocket loss" and "documentary evidence of owners opting in or out of the insurance" — this information also was not determinative of St. Paul's position refusing Weiser-Brown's claim. Accordingly, based on the facts in this case, we hold that the district court correctly found that the fifteen-day deadline under § 542.056 began to run on November 6, 2009.
St. Paul's reliance on Kachnik's trial testimony does not change our conclusion. At trial, Kachnik claimed that St. Paul did not have enough information from Weiser-Brown until after the lawsuit was filed. Kachnik stated: "[A]gain, it takes that back and forth between the adjuster and the oil company to sort out any questions. That hadn't taken place. So, we weren't in a position to come to any kind of final numbers on it at that point." Kachnik's testimony underscores why St. Paul's argument is flawed. There had been no "back and forth between the adjuster and the oil company" to sort out a final loss amount because St. Paul concluded, and maintained, based on items of information requested and received, that the event was not covered. Such negotiations and finalization would have been futile in the face of Watson's position that there was no coverage, which is a chronology that may underlie the jury verdict finding that St. Paul waived the policy "conditions" relating to submissions of loss and proof of loss. Indeed, St. Paul offered the waiver question for the jury and suggested to the district court that the jury charge already included the necessary instruction on that point. Moreover, St. Paul acknowledges that it is not the case that the insured must comply with all document requests made by the insurer, no matter how irrelevant. The insurer cannot avoid liability under § 542.056 by pointing after-the-fact to missing information, the absence of which did not affect the insurer's decision. See generally Devonshire Real Estate & Asset Mgmt., LP v. Am. Ins. Co., No. 3:12-CV-2199-B, 2014 WL 4796967, at *22-23 (N.D.Tex. Sept. 26, 2014) (tying the 15-day acceptance/rejection deadline, under § 542.056, to the insurer's obligation, under § 542.055, to "request from the claimant all items ... that the insurer reasonably
Weiser-Brown cross-appeals claiming that the district court erred in granting St. Paul's motion for judgment as a matter of law on Weiser-Brown's bad-faith claim, under Texas Insurance Code § 541. Weiser-Brown contends that it presented evidence at trial that St. Paul violated the Insurance Code by engaging in bad-faith claims handling and that this claim should have gone to the jury.
We review the district court's decision to grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law de novo. DP Solutions, Inc. v. Rollins, Inc., 353 F.3d 421, 427 (5th Cir.2003). "Judgment as a matter of law is proper after a party has been fully heard by the jury on a given issue, and `there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to have found for that party with respect to that issue.'" Foreman v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 117 F.3d 800, 804 (5th Cir.1997) (quoting Fed. R.Civ.P. 50(a)). We must consider all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-movant, here Weiser-Brown. Foreman, 117 F.3d at 804. However, "there must be more than a mere scintilla of evidence in the record to render the grant of JMOL inappropriate." Wallace v. Methodist Hosp. Sys., 271 F.3d 212, 219 (5th Cir.2001). We will affirm the district court if the result is correct, "even if our affirmance is upon grounds not relied upon by the district court." Foreman, 117 F.3d at 804.
Texas Insurance Code § 541.003 provides that "[a] person may not engage in this state in a trade practice that is defined in this chapter as or determined under this chapter to be an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice in the business of insurance." The Insurance Code lists several "unfair method[s] of competition" and "unfair or deceptive act[s] or practice[s]," such as: "failing to attempt in good faith to effectuate a prompt, fair, and equitable settlement"; "failing within a reasonable time to ... affirm or deny coverage of a claim to a policyholder"; "refusing to pay a claim without conducting a reasonable investigation with respect to the claim." Tex. Ins.Code § 541.060(a). The "reasonable-basis test" applies to a cause of action against the insurer for bad faith under the Insurance Code. See Henry v. Mut. of Omaha Ins. Co., 503 F.3d 425, 428-29 (5th Cir.2007). The insurer "will not be faced with a tort suit for challenging a claim of coverage if there was any reasonable basis for denial of that coverage." Id. at 429 (emphasis added) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); see also Higginbotham v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 103 F.3d 456, 459 (5th Cir.1997) ("A cause of action for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing exists when the insurer has no reasonable basis for denying or delaying payment of a
On January 19, 2012, over one year after filing the present lawsuit, Weiser-Brown filed a third amended complaint adding claims for breach of duty of good faith and deceptive insurance practices, under Texas Insurance Code § 541.
We find that the district court properly granted judgment as a matter of law, as there was no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to have found that St. Paul violated Texas Insurance Code § 541. See Foreman, 117 F.3d at 804. As previously described, a claim of bad faith under the Texas Insurance Code requires a showing that there was no reasonable basis to deny or delay payment of the claim. See Henry, 503 F.3d at 428-29. The evidence presented at trial, however, established a bona fide coverage dispute between Weiser-Brown and St. Paul. See Simmons, 963 S.W.2d at 44. The control-of-well insurance policy at issue required "an unintended subsurface flow of oil, gas, water, and/or fluid from one subsurface zone to another subsurface zone via the bore of the Well, which cannot be controlled by the blowout preventer .... or other equipment required." Determining whether such a covered event took place at the Viking No. 1 well required analysis of complex subsurface geological conditions. In fact, Weiser-Brown did not submit a claim until seven months after the incident because it did not know if it had coverage for what had occurred. Therefore, seven months after the incident in question, St. Paul's adjuster, BC Johnson, had to reconstruct what happened at the well.
Weiser-Brown emphasizes that in June 2009, BC Johnson's Bob Kachnik reached a preliminary conclusion that there was no coverage but did not inform Weiser-Brown of a potential coverage issue until September 2009.
Of course, the jury ultimately disagreed with Kachnik and Watson and found that the Viking No. 1 well did experience an underground loss of control. However, the evidence at trial was insufficient to support a conclusion that coverage was obvious or that St. Paul had no reasonable basis to deny Weiser-Brown's claim. Simmons, 963 S.W.2d at 44 ("Evidence establishing only a bona fide coverage dispute does not demonstrate bad faith."). At trial, Weiser-Brown's own expert described what took place at the well as "quite complicated." While he testified that the Viking No. 1 did experience an underground, interzonal flow, he explained that it was "not a raging flow from one zone to another," but an "intermittent partial flow" that the operator could only "partially control."
Weiser-Brown contends that "St. Paul engaged in an outcome-oriented investigation" and that BC Johnson and Watson were not independent. However, other than the fact that Kachnik suggested three "minor edits" to Watson's report, there was no evidence at trial that Kachnik and Watson worked together, much less that they conspired to deny coverage to Weiser-Brown. There was no evidence that either Kachnik or St. Paul influenced Watson's conclusion. While Weiser-Brown contends that "St. Paul permitted its engineering consultant to confirm [Kachnik's] conclusion by using a wrong and overly restrictive definition of the term on which it based its denial of coverage," the fact that Kachnik acknowledged this weakness in Watson's report supports the opposite of a concerted effort to deny coverage. The evidence at trial was insufficient to support Weiser-Brown's allegations of bad faith and, thus, the district court properly granted judgment as a matter of law. See Foreman, 117 F.3d at 804 (quoting Fed. R.Civ.P. 50(a)).
Further, contrary to Weiser-Brown's contention, the district court did not improperly exclude evidence that would have supported the bad-faith claim. As this court has repeated, "[d]istrict courts are given broad discretion in rulings on the admissibility of evidence; we will reverse an evidentiary ruling only when the district court has clearly abused this discretion and `a substantial right of [a] party is affected.'" Rock v. Huffco Gas & Oil Co., Inc., 922 F.2d 272, 277 (5th Cir. 1991) (quoting Muzyka v. Remington Arms Co., Inc., 774 F.2d 1309, 1313 (5th Cir.1985)); see also Sprint/United Mgmt. Co. v. Mendelsohn, 552 U.S. 379, 384, 128 S.Ct. 1140, 170 L.Ed.2d 1 (2008) ("In deference to a district court's familiarity with the details of the case and its greater experience in evidentiary matters, courts
Weiser-Brown first argues that the district court erred in excluding evidence of St. Paul's post-litigation conduct, which, Weiser-Brown contends, supported its bad-faith claim. Before the district court, Weiser-Brown indicated that it wanted to introduce numerous post-litigation filings, "even copies of the answer [St. Paul] might have filed to the complaint." On appeal, Weiser-Brown limits its focus to St. Paul's unsuccessful summary judgment motion, filed in November 2011. Weiser-Brown claims that St. Paul's motion was based on "grounds that [St. Paul] knew were meritless," such as late notice and questions of well ownership. However, Weiser-Brown misconstrues St. Paul's summary judgment motion. As Weiser-Brown describes, "St. Paul moved for partial summary judgment on the bases that (1) Weiser-Brown's notice of loss was untimely and (2) the question about the insurable interest was unresolved." Neither of these descriptions is accurate. In the cited motion, St. Paul did state, in the statement of undisputed facts, that "Weiser-Brown gave its first notice to St. Paul of the two alleged well control incidents some seven months later." However, St. Paul did not argue that summary judgment was warranted on that basis. Further, St. Paul discussed the unresolved insurable interest issue in the same context that it has done so before us — arguing that the claims-handling deadlines provided by the Prompt-Payment Statute had not been triggered. Rather than containing arguments that St. Paul "already conceded were baseless," the motion for summary judgment raised complex legal issues involving, among other things,
Similarly, we do not find that the district court abused its discretion in excluding testimony of Weiser-Brown's expert, Bill Arnold. Federal Rule of Evidence 702 provides:
Fed.R.Evid. 702. This rule "imposes a special obligation upon a trial judge to `ensure that any and all scientific testimony... is not only relevant, but reliable.'" Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 147, 119 S.Ct. 1167, 143 L.Ed.2d 238 (1999) (quoting Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 589, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993)). "The expert testimony must be relevant, not simply in the sense that all testimony must be relevant, Fed.R.Evid. 402, but also in the sense that the expert's proposed opinion would assist the trier of fact to understand or determine a fact in issue." Bocanegra v. Vicmar Servs., Inc., 320 F.3d 581, 584 (5th Cir.2003) (citing Daubert, 509 U.S. at 591-92, 113 S.Ct. 2786). With respect to reliability, the district court has "broad latitude" when deciding whether such testimony is reliable, and thus admissible, as well as when deciding how to test the testimony's reliability. Kumho, 526 U.S. at 141-42, 152, 119 S.Ct. 1167 ("The trial court must have the same kind of latitude in deciding how to test an expert's reliability... as it enjoys when it decides whether or not that expert's relevant testimony is reliable.").
The district court expressed concerns about both the relevance and reliability of Weiser-Brown's expert's testimony. We share those concerns. Weiser-Brown contends that Arnold's testimony would have supported its claim for bad faith, under § 541 of the Texas Insurance Code, as Arnold would have testified that St. Paul violated the "accepted practice" in the insurance industry when it failed to send Weiser-Brown a reservation-of-rights letter.
Accordingly, we find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding certain evidence and properly granted judgment as a matter of law on Weiser-Brown's § 541 bad-faith claim.
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the district court in all respects.