Fremont Indemnity Co. v. Superior Court

In these original proceedings, we are asked to pass upon the propriety of a protective order which prevents defendant fire insurance company from taking plaintiff insured’s deposition in an action the insured brought on the policy. The trial court, under the guise of upholding plaintiffs constitutional privilege against self-incrimination, imposed such an order, effective until criminal proceedings, now pending against plaintiff on a charge of arson, are concluded.

Plaintiff owned a restaurant. The defendant issued a policy insuring against its loss by fire. Implicit in the record is the circumstance that the policy included an exclusion under which the insurer would be relieved of liability on the policy if it were shown that the insured’s arson caused the loss.

After the fire, a criminal investigation into the origin of the fire was undertaken, and plaintiff came under suspicion. As a consequence, the defendant declined to pay plaintiff’s claim. Because of this, plaintiff filed suit against his insurer to recover the loss as well as damages alleged for a so-called bad faith refusal to settle the claim.

As part of its discovery efforts, defendant undertook to depose…