Allstate Insurance Co. v. Ellery Chacksfield

MEMORANDUM

Allstate Insurance Company brought this action seeking a declaration that Gordon Hammers’s umbrella insurance policy did not cover damages arising out of a car accident with Ellery Chacksfield for which Gordon’s brother Robert had been found responsible because Robert was not a “resident of [Gordon’s] household.”

In response to cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court concluded that Robert was a resident of Gordon’s household and granted summary judgment to Chacksfield. We reverse and remand for entry of summary judgment in favor of Allstate.

Residents of the same household must live “under one roof or within a common curtilage.” Jacobs v. Fire Ins. Exch., 227 Cal.App.3d 584 , 278 Cal.Rptr. 52, 58 (1991). Robert and Gordon did not live “under one roof’ because Robert lived in a separate trailer and had been prohibited to enter Gordon’s house, and we disagree' with the district court’s conclusion that Robert and Gordon lived within a common curtilage.

California courts seem to apply the same definition of “curtilage” in both the insurance coverage and Fourth Amendment contexts. See People v. DiMatteo, No. A105694, 2005 WL 20005 , at *4 (Cal.Ct.App. Jan.…