Whitaker

This is an appeal from a trial court’s ruling in a declaratory judgment that the respondent, Royal Globe Insurance Company, owed no duty to defend its insured in an underlying action for fraudulent inducement and breach of contract. We shall affirm.

Facts

The lower court’s description of the “abbreviated and skeletal nature of the trial in this case” may be something of an understatement. It was submitted on the following stipulated facts.

Royal Globe issued a comprehensive business insurance policy to Jerry L. Knighten Construction Co. (Knighten) in 1979. In the general liability schedule of the policy, the basic coverage was described as “[t]he company will pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of [f] A. bodily injury or [11] B. property damage [11] to which this insurance applies, caused by an occurrence, and the company shall have the right and duty to defend any suit against the insured seeking damages on account of such bodily injury or property damages, even if the allegations are groundless, false, or fraudulent. . . .” (Italics added.) In the general provisions applying to the general…