National Automobile & Casualty Insurance v. Superior Court

This is an original proceeding in mandate. The question presented is whether the superior court can refuse to approve an uninsured motorist arbitration award to a minor which the court concludes is not in the minor’s best interest notwithstanding the limiting provisions of Insurance Code section 11580.3.

Insurance Code section 11580.3, in pertinent part, provides that an uninsured motorist arbitration award to minors is to be deemed a “compromise” governed by certain provisions of the Probate Code. These Probate Code sections require, inter alia, judicial approval of any compromise of a minor’s claim made by his or her parents. (Prob. Code, § 3500, subd. (b).) However, while requiring judicial approval of uninsured motorist arbitration awards to minors, section 11580.3 goes on to limit the grounds for disapproval to those enumerated in Code of Civil Procedure section 1286.2 for vacation of any arbitration award.

The specific ground for the court’s refusal to approve the award was that certain medical evidence which suggested a severe latent injury was not developed or presented to the arbitrator, casting doubt upon the sufficiency of the award to the minor. Section…