The unfair claims settlement practices acts were enacted in tile 1970's and 1980's as amendmeints to state unfLair trade practices legislation intended to nleet the re(quirements of thle federal McCarran-lerguson Act. The federal act warned states thlat tlte United States would regulate tlhe insurance industry to tlhe extent that states failed to do so. Critics heave suiggested thal an aberrant handful of coLurts have mistakenly created extra-conlractiual rights for insureds and third party claimants, ignoring the legislative intent or state lawmakers who enacted thle new law s. The author argues that imposing evidence exists that it is the legislative intent of an increasing number of states to create new private rights of action and that tihe future portends a legislative and judicial expansion of these consumer rights. not withstanding tlhe argiuments of critics who seek to halt tile trend with corrective legislation.