Castaneda

INTRODUCTION

Juvenal Hernandez and Melanie Celene Castaneda (together, plaintiffs) sued The Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club (the Exchange) for breach of Hernandez’s homeowner’s policy and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. They alleged the Exchange wrongfully refused to provide Hernandez a defense or indemnification in a personal injury action brought by Castaneda for injuries she sustained from a pit bull attack. The trial court granted the Exchange’s motion for summary judgment, finding coverage was precluded by the policy’s exclusion of claims of injury arising out of “the ownership of, custody of, or care for” a pit bull. On appeal, plaintiffs claim the court erred in entering summary judgment because the exclusion is fatally ambiguous, and there was a potential for coverage of at least one of Castaneda’s claims. We reject plaintiffs’ claims of error and conclude summary judgment was properly granted.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. The Castaneda Action A. The Homeowner’s Policy The Exchange issued a homeowner’s policy to Hernandez providing that “ ‘You’ or ‘your’ means any Named Insured in the declarations” and that…