Andrade

Intervener Manuel J. Andrade appeals a judgment after jury trial favoring defendant Dennis Edward Jennings (sued as Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London) on Andrade’s complaint-in-intervention for declaratory relief and breach of contract. Attacking the jury’s special verdicts sustaining Jennings’s defense of collusion, Andrade contends such defense was barred as a matter of law and unsupported by substantial evidence. We affirm the judgment.

I

Introduction

Jennings issued an excess liability policy to tuna boat captain Andrade’s employer. Suffering shipboard injury, Andrade made a claim against his employer and the vessel. Andrade filed state and federal lawsuits. Since Andrade’s employer’s primary insurer was insolvent, the employer and the vessel’s lienholders sought to settle Andrade’s claim without impairing their interests in the vessel. Eventually, without informing Jennings, the employer settled with Andrade for an amount invoking Jennings’s excess policy. Andrade agreed not to execute against his employer’s assets including the vessel, with the employer assigning to Andrade all its rights against excess insurer Jennings.

Under the settlement agreement, Andrade…