Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County

This is a toxic contamination insurance coverage dispute. It involves numerous contaminated sites across the country, numerous policies issued at various times and places and spanning several decades, numerous underlying environmental contamination cases, and numerous insurers. The plaintiffs are Jensen-Kelly Corporation and others (the insureds). The insureds seek declaratory relief of insurance coverage, damages, etc. In 1995, the insureds obtained summary adjudication that insurer Liberty Mutual had a duty to defend as to three of the sites involved. Liberty Mutual then began paying for the insureds’ defense as ordered. In 1996, Liberty Mutual itself moved for summary adjudication, contending that the undisputed facts supporting its own motion now showed that Liberty Mutual had no duty to defend or to indemnify as to the three sites in question.

Liberty Mutual’s motion was eventually denied in January 1997. The issue raised on this writ petition is whether a motion by an insurer seeking to terminate an earlier-adjudicated duty to defend must comply with the limitations of Code of Civil Procedure section 1008 (section 1008) concerning motions for reconsideration. The…