S.B.C.C., Inc. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance

In this action for insurance bad faith, plaintiff S.B.C.C., Inc., doing business as South Bay Construction Company (South Bay), alleged that its insurer, defendant St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company (St. Paul), had wrongfully refused to defend South Bay in an action brought by its competitor, San Jose Construction, Inc. (SJC). The superior court found no duty to defend because an exclusion in South Bay’s liability policy eliminated any potential coverage for advertising injury, and the harm to SJC was not “personal injury” within the meaning of the policy language. The court accordingly denied South Bay’s motion for summary adjudication and granted summary judgment to St. Paul. We conclude that the allegations of SJC’s complaint did not trigger a duty to defend South Bay under the contract terms. We therefore must affirm the judgment.

Background

St. Paul insured South Bay under a “Contractors Commercial General Liability Protection” (CGL) policy which was effective between June 4, 2003, and June 4, 2004. It covered both the company and its employees if they were engaged in work within the scope of their employment or performing duties related to the conduct of the…