Snyder

This appeal presents the difficult question of when a claim against the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA) arises, triggering the three-year statute of limitations for breach of CIGA’s statutory obligations. (Code Civ. Proc., § 338.) Trustees of the Western Asbestos Settlement Trust (Western Trust), charged with paying bodily injury claims against companies that distributed asbestos-containing building materials, sought coverage under the companies’ insurance policies and, in 2004, after the insurer was declared insolvent, brought a declaratory relief action against CIGA to determine CIGA’s obligation to pay the insolvent insurer’s policy obligations. After CIGA filed an answer denying such an obligation, the proceedings against CIGA remained dormant for almost six years. In May 2011, the Western Trust dismissed its complaint against CIGA without prejudice. The present declaratory relief action by the Western Trust against CIGA was filed in February 2013. CIGA demurred on the ground, among others, that the complaint is barred by the statute of limitations. On this ground the trial court sustained the demurrer without leave to amend and dismissed the…