PA: Is a Statutory Bad Faith Claim, Sounding in Tort, Assignable?

Like many jurisdictions, Pennsylvania allows common law bad faith claims to be assigned from the insured/defendant in the tort case to the plaintiff in the tort case.  Also like many jurisdictions, Pennsylvania has a statutory component to its bad faith law (42 Pa. C.S.A. 8371, enacted in 1990).  The Third Circuit has certified a question to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania asking it to clarify whether the statutory component, like the common law cause of action, is assignable.  Judge John Jones, of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, held statutory bad faith claims are assignable, based on lower state court and prior Third Circuit cases.  The issue is whether the tort basis of the statutory claim distinguishes it from the contract basis of the common law claim for purposes of assignability.  The case is Allstate v. Wolfe (Docket No. 39 MAP 2014) and we should receive an answer in the coming months. 

--CJR