Gen. Accident Ins. Co. of Am. v. Superior Court of Alameda Cty.

This mandate proceeding raises the question whether a finding of corporate successor liability for asbestos torts entitles the liable successor, as a matter of law, to the insurance coverage of the predecessor corporation. We hold the successor corporation is not entitled by operation of law to the predecessor’s insurance coverage.

Petitioners are three insurance companies who are defendants in an action for declaratory relief in which plaintiff Western MacArthur Company, real party herein, seeks a judicial determination that petitioners have duties to defend and indemnify Western MacArthur in personal injury actions arising from asbestos torts. Well over a decade ago, Western MacArthur was found to be the successor corporation to Western Asbestos Company for purposes of product liability, and thus became liable in tort for injuries arising from Western Asbestos’s distribution of asbestos products. This court affirmed the finding of successor liability. (Kaminski v. Western MacArthur Co. (1985) 175 Cal.App.3d 445 [ 220 Cal.Rptr. 895 ] (Kaminski).) Subsequently, Western MacArthur filed this action for declaratory relief against petitioners, who insured Western Asbestos…