City of Long Beach v. Stevedoring Services of America

This is an action for contractual indemnity by the City of Long Beach (the City) against Stevedoring Services of America, Inc. (SSA), arising from a personal injury lawsuit filed against the City by an SSA employee. The City leased a portion of the Long Beach pier to SSA for operation of a marine cargo terminal. As part of a project to reconfigure the terminal, the City agreed to relocate certain fire hydrants. One day after a fire hydrant was left standing in a newly created traffic lane at the terminal, a truck driven by an SSA employee hit a concrete guardpost surrounding the hydrant. The employee sued the City and a jury found that the accident was caused by a dangerous condition created by the City and assessed $1.9 million in damages against the City.

The City cross-complained against SSA for contractual indemnity. SSA in turn filed a cross-complaint for equitable indemnity against Parsons Transportation Group, Inc. (Parsons), which provided a consultant to the City to manage the latter part of the reconfiguration project. After a bench trial, the trial court denied the City indemnity from SSA, finding that the City was actively negligent in the reconfiguration of…