Pacific Indemnity Co. v. American Mutual Insurance

Plaintiff, the insurer of the Regents of the University of California, has appealed from a declaratory judgment which determined that it had no rights against defendant, the insurer of a physician employed by the Regents, for the payment of any proportion of the liability incurred and discharged by plaintiff in defense and in settlement of an action brought by a patient against the physician and the Regents for injuries allegedly negligently caused by the physician in the course of rendering professional medical services while employed by the Regents. Plaintiff contends that it is entitled to pro rata contribution from defendant under general principles of insurance law. On the other hand, defendant asserts, and the trial court concluded, that the provisions of the Government Code dealing with the defense and indemnification of public employees rendered the plaintiff, as insurer of the public employer, solely liable for the liabilities it incurred and paid, and exonerated the defendant, as insurer of the public employee, from any liability to the insurer of his employer.

The case was submitted on stipulated facts, which the trial court adopted as findings of fact. From…