Delgadillo

BACKGROUND

Zeme, an attorney, defended plaintiffs during the early stages of a personal injury action brought by former employee Sacramento Lopez, who allegedly was injured in a fall while employed by them. During the relevant period plaintiffs owned and operated La Nopalera market, through which they had obtained workers’ compensation insurance. They also had a homeowners’ policy covering their residence. However, Lopez’s injury did not occur at the market or plaintiffs’ home, but while doing construction work on a house plaintiffs were building on Star Ridge Road. Zeme answered Lopez’s complaint and prepared written discovery responses denying that plaintiffs were his employer or possessed any insurance coverage for his injuries. Plaintiffs subsequently replaced Zeme with new counsel who tendered Lopez’s

1 claims to Farmers Insurance (Farmers), which had issued the workers’ compensation policy for La Nopalera and the homeowners’ policy for plaintiffs’ residence. Farmers denied the claims, and plaintiffs sued for breach of contract and related claims. In that lawsuit (the insurance action), unlike the underlying personal injury case, plaintiffs alleged that Lopez was in fact…