Main Fiber Products, Inc. v. Morgan & Franz Insurance Agency

The plaintiffs below appeal from a judgment in favor of several defendants, entered after the trial court granted the defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings on the day of trial. A former defendant that had earlier settled with the plaintiffs appears as an amicus curiae in support of that appeal. In addition, the plaintiffs appeal from a postjudgment order awarding attorney’s fees to the defendants.

The defendants cross-appeal from the judgment in order to challenge an interlocutory order approving the settlement between the plaintiffs and the former defendant. The settling defendant has moved for the dismissal of that cross-appeal as being from a nonappealable order.

We reverse the judgment and postjudgment order and dismiss the appeal from the good faith settlement determination.

Procedural Background

In 1994, Main Fiber Products, Inc., Michael Main, and Marlene Main (collectively, Main) sued California Fair Plan Association (Fair) for damages for the breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing (first count), and Morgan & Franz Insurance Agency and Gerald P. Coleman (collectively, Morgan & Franz) and Fair for damages for breach of fiduciary duties…