Allstate Insurance v. Superior Court

Allstate Insurance Company, the petitioner in this original proceeding, is a defendant in an action which was commenced in respondent court under its number P 37639. Real party in interest Wesley Wickham is the plaintiff in the action. Petitioner (hereinafter defendant) seeks an appropriate writ or writs (mandate and/or .., prohibition) requiring respondent court to vacate an order denying a motion to strike an amended complaint filed in the action; to vacate certain discovery orders; to grant the motion to strike; to desist from conducting further proceedings in the action; and to dismiss it. The principal question is whether the action survived in respondent court after (1) it had been removed to a federal court in diversity proceedings and (2) the federal court had dismissed it.

Real party in interest (plaintiff) is a resident of California. He commenced action No. P 37639 by filing a complaint in respondent court on March 24, 1980. The pleading was captioned “Complaint For Actual And Punitive Damages For Tortious Breach Of Insurance Contract.” It named only defendant and fictitious parties as the defendants in the action. In the prayer of the complaint, plaintiff…