During the 1970s, insurers argued that these early cases should be read as holding that it was bad faith to deny a claim only when the insurer already "knew" that it had no reasonable basis for denying the claim (i.e., when the insurer had already acquired information showing a potentially covered claim and denied it anyway).In other words, they contended that only "intentional" mistreatment of an insured should be actionable in bad faith, versus merely grossly "negligent" claim handling.