Not every denial of coverage amounts to bad faith. The denial must be unreasonable. It is possible that the insurance company breached the contract by failing to pay a covered claim, but did not act unreasonably in doing so. In that instance, there is no bad faith. Tomaselli v. Transamerica Ins. Co., 25 Cal. App. 4th 1269, 1280-1281 (1994); Opsal v. United Services Auto Ass’n, 2 Cal. App. 4th 1197, 1205 (1991).

Whether an insurance company acted unreasonably normally presents a question of fact for the jury. Walbrook Ins Co. v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 5 Cal. App. 4th 1445, 1454 (1992); Filippo Industries, Inc. v. Sun Ins. Co., 74 Cal. App. 4th 1429, 1438 (1999); Davy v. Public National Ins. Co., 181 Cal. App. 2d 387, 397 (1960). But there are instances in which the court may decide, as a matter of law, that the conduct was either reasonable or unreasonable. See