Continental Casualty Company v. City of Richmond, a Municipal Corporation, and Mead Reinsurance Company, Defendant-In-Intervention-Appellant
Opinion
Opinion
Poole, J.
Continental Casualty Company (“CNA” or the “Company”) sought a declaratory judgment that an insurance policy it had issued to the City of Richmond, California, did not provide coverage for claims asserted in a civil rights and wrongful death action filed against Richmond by the three minor children of Willie Lee Drumgoole.
The district court granted summary judgment for CNA, finding that there were no genuine issues of material fact for trial because the policy unambiguously preclud ed coverage for the claims asserted. The City and Mead Reinsurance Company (“Mead”) appeal. Because we conclude the Drumgoole claims were not covered under the CNA insurance contract, we affirm.
I. FACTS
On October 1, 1982, the three minor children of Willie Lee Drumgoole filed an action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against the City and certain elected officials. The plaintiffs sought damages under the California Wrongful Death Statute, Calif.Code Civ.Proc. § 377 (West Supp.1984), and legal and equitable relief under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 , 1983, and 1985, as the result of their father’s death while in police custody in the Richmond jail.