Baron

After a jury trial, appellant Fire Insurance Exchange (Fire) was found to have intentionally concealed and misrepresented an important fact and to have unreasonably failed to investigate and pay a claim covered under a fire insurance policy. On appeal, Fire contends that the judgment should be reversed because the appointment of respondent James H. Baron as receiver for the insured property was void or at least invalid for purposes of recovering punitive damages. Notwithstanding the righteous, histrionic tone of respondent’s brief, we find no error in the trial court’s judgment upholding the verdict.

Background

From 1992 to 2001 Dennis Sanfilippo and Carole Vemi were engaged in a joint venture pertaining to property located on Big Talk Court in San Jose. Under the terms of their written agreement, any disputes were to be settled by arbitration. In 2001 a dispute did arise, and in March they engaged an arbitrator, the Honorable Read Ambler (ret.).

On May 28, 2001, the property was extensively damaged by a fire. Vemi was insured on the property under a Farmers Insurance Company policy provided by Fire. Vemi filed a claim, which was assigned to Gary Corbett, an…