Courtesy Claims Service, Inc. v. Superior Court

Petitioners seek review of an order of the respondent court denying their motion, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 2033, subdivision (k), for an order that matters contained in requests for admissions be deemed admitted. The petition is granted.

Facts

This is an insurance “bad faith” action. (Ins. Code, § 790.03, subd. (h).) Raymond Galvan, Lucina Galvan and Rachel Howard (plaintiffs) sued Stephen Hernandez in municipal court for personal injuries and property damages sustained in an automobile accident. Plaintiffs made a claim under Hernandez’s automobile policy with Utah Home Fire Insurance Company (Utah), which retained petitioner Courtesy Claims Service, Inc. (Courtesy), to adjust plaintiffs’ claim. Plaintiffs thereafter obtained default judgments of $15,000 each against Hernandez. Utah paid Hernandez’s policy limits of approximately $30,000. Plaintiffs executed a covenant not to enforce their judgments against Hernandez personally in exchange for an assignment of his rights against Utah and Courtesy. Plaintiffs filed this “bad faith” action as third party claimants and under the assignment of Hernandez’s rights, alleging that Courtesy and Utah failed to…