City of Huntington Beach v. PETERSEN LAW FIRM

After a city and several of its employees were sued in tort, the city retained counsel to jointly represent the city and the employees. The employees insisted that the city was obligated to pay for defense counsel for the employees separate from counsel retained to defend the city. The city refused and sued for declaratory relief to establish that it was not obligated to provide its employees with a separate defense. The employees appeal from a judgment in favor of the city.

Procedural Background

A. The Two Underlying Actions.

In September of 1996, Tony Nammari and others sued the City of Huntington Beach (City) and several of its police officers, including Daryk Rowland and Mike Willett. (Nammari v. City of Huntington Beach (Super. Ct. Orange County, 1996, No. 769183); hereinafter Nammari.) The Nammari plaintiffs claimed compensatory and punitive damages for alleged violations of the plaintiffs’ civil rights, a conspiracy to violate those rights, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, false arrest, and a violation of Civil Code section 52.1.

The City retained outside legal counsel, Thomas Feeley, to jointly represent the City and the individual…