California Insurance Litigation Blog

Under certain circumstances, an insurer has the right to intervene in a case against its insured to protect its own rights and to avoid harm to the insurer.  These circumstances usually involve cases where an insured is either prevented from appearing and defending, or simply chooses not to and a default is taken against the insured.  The recent case Western Heritage Insurance Company v. Superior Court, __ Cal. App. 4^th __ (Oct. 11, 2011), addresses the second set of circumstances, and provides an examination of California intervention law and holds that an insurer has the right to intervene in a case and take over in litigation if an insured is not defending the action, and may contest both liability and damages while doing so.  

Every now and then a court decision comes along that is a virtual one-stop shop for basic insurance coverage and bad faith principles—a primer for newbie insurance attorneys and a refresher for seasoned litigators.  Chief Judge Anthony Ishii’s recent decision granting in part and denying in part an insurer’s motion for summary judgment on a farm-owners insurance policy is one. Ted Gaylord, et al. v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, et al., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21736 (Eastern District of California, March 4, 2011).  The Gaylord decision also sounds a cautionary note to policyholder attorneys to be mindful that first-party and third-party claims in a single action may be subject to different limitations periods.

The Facts

Gaylord owns and operates a livestock operation, raising his own cattle and raising cattle for others.  In June 2008 some of the cattle die suddenly.  By September and October 2008 cattle begin dying at an alarming rate.  Gaylord suspects feed poisoning.  Autopsies and feed testing confirm that the cattle are dying from liver failure caused by toxic plants in the alfalfa feed.  There is no known cure, so Gaylord gets permission from the Department of Agriculture to sell the cattle off for early slaughter—but at a financial loss for Gaylord and the other cattle owners. 

Nationwide issued a farm-owners insurance policy to Gaylord in March 2008.  One part insures against physical loss to covered property (first-party); one part insures against third-party liability claims.  Gaylord says he moved his farm-owners insurance from Fireman’s Fund to Nationwide because his long-trusted insurance agent told him that Nationwide had better coverage, including coverage for cattle loss from poisoned feed.  But Gaylord’s agent says he told Gaylord that a “custom feeding of livestock” endorsement was necessary to cover cattle loss from poisoned feed, and that Gaylord declined it because it was too expensive.

In a closely watched case the California Supreme Court recently expanded the scope of a comprehensive general liability insurer’s (CGL) duty to defend “suits” to an adjudicative proceeding before the former United States Department of Interior Board of Contract Appeals (now the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals).  Ameron International Corp. v. Insurance Company of Pennsylvania, et al., 2010 Cal. LEXIS 11679 (November 18, 2010).  Many insurance industry analysts and counsel had expected the Court to continue to limit the duty to defend to court proceedings, as it had done in Foster-Gardner, Inc. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., 18 Cal.4th 857, 887, 77 Cal.Rptr.2d 107, 959 P.2d 265 (1998)(Foster-Gardner).  In Foster-Gardner the Court held that the term “suit” in a CGL policy means “a court proceeding initiated by the filing of a complaint,” and declined to extend the duty to defend to an environmental agency’s pollution remediation order against a CGL policyholder.  The Foster-Gardner rule has since been applied to bar a CGL insurer’s duty to defend other administrative proceedings.

 In Ameron the U.S. Department of the Interior discovered defects in concrete siphons manufactured by Ameron for use in one of Arizona’s aqueducts.  The Interior Department sought $40 million in damages against Ameron in a proceeding before the Department of Interior Board of Contract Appeals (IBCA).  The proceeding took place before an administrative law judge over the course of 22 days.  Ameron’s CGL insurer, Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania (ICSP), refused to pay for the cost of defending or indemnifying Ameron. 

Commercial General Liability (“CGL”) policies that cover personal injury and property damage require CGL carriers to defend “suits,” typically defined to mean “a civil proceeding in which damages . . . to which this insurance applies are alleged.”  A question arises as to whether the process prescribed by the Calderon Act (the Calderon Process) is a” civil proceeding” within this definition.  The Calderon Act requires a common interest development association to satisfy certain dispute resolution requirements with respect to the builder, developer, or general contractor before the association may file a complaint in court for construction or design defects.  (Civil Code § 1375, subd. (a))  Although the Calderon Process occurs before a complaint is filed and itself does not result in a judgment or court-ordered payment of money, the Calderon Process is an integral part of construction defect litigation initiated by a common interest development association.  In a case of first impression, the Fourth Appellate District in Clarendon America Insurance Co. v. StarNet Insurance Co., __ Cal. App. 4th ___ (decided July 27, 2010) held that a CGL insurer has a duty to defend its insured in such proceedings.

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 comprehensive general liability policies (“CGL”) issued by National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh and American Home Assurance Co. Hyundai (“Defendants”)  claimed that the alleged patent infringement concerned an advertising method and thus, the lawsuit alleged an "advertising injury" as defined in the insurance policy. The insurers disagreed and declined to defend Hyundai. Consequently, Hyundai represented itself in the underlying patent infringement action.