The Fidelity & Casualty Company of New York, a Corporation, Plaintiff v. Reserve Insurance Company, C. W. McGrath Inc., a Corporation, Counter-Claimant v. National Indemnity Company, Counter-Defendants, National Indemnity Company

596 F.2d 914 The FIDELITY & CASUALTY COMPANY of New York, a corporation, Plaintiff- Appellant, v. RESERVE INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellees. C. W. McGRATH, INC., a corporation, Counter-Claimant, v. NATIONAL INDEMNITY COMPANY et al., Counter-Defendants, National Indemnity Company, Appellee. No. 76-2892. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. May 14, 1979. 1 James L. English, San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant. 2 Charles I. Eisner, Oakland, Cal., Allan Lee Rudick, San Diego, Cal., for defendants-appellees. 3 Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. 4 Before DUNIWAY and SNEED, Circuit Judges and SPENCER WILLIAMS * , District Judge. SPENCER WILLIAMS, District Judge: 5 The Fidelity & Casualty Company of New York appeals from a declaratory judgment entered against it by the district court for the Eastern District of California. On June 18, 1974 the United States filed suit against C. W. McGrath, Inc., who was insured by Fidelity, to recover damages for the cost of suppressing a fire allegedly caused by McGrath on federal lands. Rather than seeking to intervene in that suit Fidelity instituted this…