On Nov. 14, 2010, plaintiff David Zimmerman, an unemployed 49 year old, was stopped in his pickup truck at a red light in Los Angeles when he was rear-ended by a van. Zimmerman claimed he injured his elbows in the accident, resulting in epicondylitis (tennis elbow). The tortfeasor’s insurance carrier, AAA, tendered it $15,000 policy. Zimmerman then sought further recovery via the supplementary-underinsured-motorist provision of his own insurance policy, which was administered by Wawanesa General Insurance Co. Zimmerman sought to have Wawanesa tender its $85,000 policy limit. However, Wawanesa rejected the demand, claiming the most serious part of Zimmerman’s alleged was not caused by the accident. Thus, it offered $15,000 to settle the claim, but Zimmerman rejected the offer. The matter then proceeded to arbitration where Zimmerman was awarded $55,000. Zimmerman then sued Wawanesa, claiming that Wawanesa should have paid him the policy limit immediately upon presentation of the claim. Zimmerman claimed that forcing a longtime policy holder to incur the expense of an underinsured-motorist arbitration was an act of bad faith. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that Wawanesa’s reserves were $15,000 and that its adjusters only had the authority to offer that much, which precluded Wawanesa from making a reasonable offer. Counsel further contended that Wawanesa’s experts initially opined “no elbow injury,” but after reviewing the records three days later, flip-flopped to “no causation” and gave firm opinions before receiving any records from Zimmerman. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that Wawanesa’s own biomechanical expert agreed that tennis elbow can be caused by a single trauma. Counsel further argued that in every case, Wawanesa’s legal department makes a best-case and worst-case scenario prediction and that Wawanesa always offers the customers the worst case scenario. Wawanesa claimed that no bad faith was committed, as the issue contested was the subject of a genuine dispute between the parties., Three days after the accident, Zimmerman first presented to a doctor with complaints of pain and tingling to both arms. He claimed his were caused by bracing his arms on the steering wheel during the accident. Zimmerman was ultimately seen by seven different doctors, who all diagnosed him with bilateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) as a result of the accident. Zimmerman claimed that after failed pain injections and medication, surgery was recommended for both elbows. Zimmerman sought recovery of punitive damages, as well as Brandt fees. However, Judge Richard Rico dismissed Zimmerman’s punitive-damages claim in response to defense counsel’s motion for partial nonsuit.