QUESTION:
My father moved in to live with me after he left his wife. He said she was abusing him physically, mentally, emotionally and financially. She held a gun to his head and said that she wished he would die. He was going through divorce and settlement when he had a heart attack. When he was released with a diagnosis of GI Tract tear and bleed and infection he was to immediately pick up his prescription for antibiotics to keep him alive. When he was to pick them up along with other meds he needed for serious issues, he found his prescription med insurance was no longer available to him. He had insurance also with the VA but with them it took over a week to work with his medicare and blue cross. Because of not getting the meds for his GI tract tear, he died not even a month after his attack of sepsis. There are also other violations of the restraining order. Isn’t it a crime to violate a restraining order?
ANSWER:
Courts in limited civil cases may grant temporary restraining orders and preliminary (but not permanent) injunctions. [CCP § 86(a)(8)]. A party, his or her attorney, a witness, and/or any insurer “or any other individual or entity whose consent is necessary to the disposition of the case,” may be assessed reasonable monetary sanctions—including attorney fees and costs—payable to an aggrieved party, the court, or both, pursuant to CRC 2.30 for failure to comply with the applicable Rules of Court governing general civil cases, absent a showing of “good cause.”
Furthermore, an insurer must act fairly and in good faith in handling the claims of an insured, as the same duty is implicit in every insurance policy. A breach in such duty may result to the insurer’s liability, and in appropriate cases, there would be an addition for the insured’s economic losses and emotional distress. [Gruenberg v. Aetna Ins. Co. (1973) 9 C3d 566, 573, 108 CR 480, 484–485; Kransco v. American Empire Surplus Lines Ins. Co. (2000) 23 C4th 390, 400, 97 CR2d 151, 159]