California Insurance Litigation Blog

The genuine dispute doctrine received another blow as the California Court of Appeals held that the doctrine may not be used to refuse settlement in third party coverage cases.  The recently decided case of Howard v. American National Fire Ins. Co.,  __Cal. App. 4th __,  2010 WL 3156851 (decided August 11, 2010), involved allegations of priest molestation by an employee of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton (“Bishop”).  American National Fire Insurance Co. (“American”) provided liability insurance to Bishop that covered bodily injury caused by an employee’s battery.  When Howard filed suit for negligent retention of the molesting priest, Bishop... More

The Thursday July 17, 2010 edition of the San Francisco Daily Journal featured my article, entitled “The Continuous Injury Trigger: A Cat-and-Mouse Game,” in the Perspective column. It explains a recent case from the California 4th Appellate District which rejected a CGL insurer’s attempts to apply a “double trigger” to narrow the "continuous injury trigger" based on the standard "occurrence" definition in a CGL policy.  The article is posted below with permission of Daily Journal Corp. (2010).... More

In a case of first impression, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held, for the first time under California law, that patent infringement can be covered as a "misappropriation of advertising ideas" under the advertising injury coverage of a general liability policy, where the patent is on a method of web based advertising. In Hyundai Motor America v. National Union etc. et al., No. 08056527(April 5, 2010) Hyundai Motor America was sued for patent infringement after placing certain “build your own vehicle” features on its website. As a result, Hyundai sought a defense from its liability insurers under a... More

In an article appearing in the April 12, 2010 editions of the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals, I discuss the impact of the California Fourth Appellate District’s Intergulf Development, LLC. v. Superior Court (Interstate Fire & Casualty Company). Here it is: In an important vindication of a California policyholder’s right to a jury trial to enforce an insurer’s duty to defend, the California Fourth Appellate District recently held that a liability insurer that fails to promptly acknowledge its insured’s right to independent counsel and begin funding that defense forfeits its rights to binding arbitration under Civil Code section... More

When multiple insurers share the same defense obligation, the defense costs are typically allocated equally.  When an insurance company refuses to defend, those insurers which do contribute to the defense may seek contribution from the insurer(s) that do not.   Scottsdale Insurance Co. v. Century Surety Co., __ Cal. App. 4th ___ (March 10, 2010) addresses such a situation. In this case, Scottsdale Insurance Company (“Scottsdale”) brought suit against Century Surety Company (Century) seeking equitable contribution based on Century's failure to participate in the defense of 17 common insureds in hundreds of actions in which Scottsdale, along with at least one... More

In Amer. States Ins. v. Progressive Casualty Ins., 180 Cal. App. 4th 18 (2009), the California Court of Appeal addressed the “peculiar risk” doctrine in the context of an insurer’s duty to defend.  Victor Meza was a self-employed truck driver who was hired by Western Trucking LLC (“Western”) as an independent contractor.  While driving a tractor trailer owned by Western and insured by Wilshire Insurance Company (“Wilshire”), Meza collided with a pedestrian, Yevdokia Bristman, seriously injuring him.  Bristman later sued the grading contractor who hired Western, Vinci Pacific Corporation and the general contractor, Garden Communities (collectively “Vinci Pacific”).  Meza’s liability... More