California Fair Plan Ass'n v. Superior Court

Defendant California Fair Plan Association (Fair Plan) seeks a peremptory writ of mandate directing respondent trial court to vacate its order denying Fair Plan’s motion for summary judgment and to enter a new order granting summary judgment. Real party in interest Barbara Darwish, as trustee of a trust holding real estate, sued Fair Plan to recover vandalism loss to the property under an insurance policy issued to a third party to whom Darwish had assigned a one-tenth of one percent ownership interest. We issued an alternative writ requiring respondent court to either grant summary judgment or alternatively show cause why a peremptory writ of mandate should not issue, and we temporarily stayed all trial court proceedings until further order. We conclude that the failure of the named insured to submit to an examination under oath, pursuant to the policy terms, barred the action against Fair Plan. Accordingly, we grant the peremptory writ of mandate.

FACTS

Plaintiff Darwish is the trustee of a trust which holds real property. She unsuccessfully applied for an insurance policy to cover the trust’s real estate. Darwish was advised that Fair Plan, a fire and vandalism…