Combs
Combs v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co.
Opinion
Opinion
Jack Combs, in pro. per.
Pierce & Shearer, Andrew F. Pierce [Retained], Palo Alto, for plaintiff and appellant.
Chapman, Popik & White, Mark A. White, Carol D. Quackenbos, San Francisco, for defendants and respondents.
POLLAK, J.
Plaintiff Jack Combs appeals from an adverse summary judgment rejecting his claim against State Farm Fire & Casualty Company and State Farm General Insurance Company [1] (collectively, State Farm) for its refusal to reimburse him for the attorney fees he was ordered to pay the prevailing party in an earlier action against him for housing discrimination. Combs does not dispute that Insurance Code section 533 (section 533) prohibits State Farm from indemnifying him for the compensatory and punitive damages for which he was held liable in the discrimination suit. However, he disputes the trial court's ruling that section 533 also precludes reimbursement of the plaintiff's attorney fees for which he was held liable, that were covered by a supplementary payments provision of his insurance policy. We shall affirm.
State Farm provided Combs with a defense, under a reservation of rights, to a complaint filed in federal district court by Fair Housing of Marin…