State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Superior Court

State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and Karen Parker (referred to collectively henceforth as State Farm) are defendants below in Riverside County Superior Court case No. Indio 45204, Patten, et al. v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, et al. In that action, State Farm moved for summary adjudication of certain issues pertaining to its duty to issue a certificate of financial responsibility (commonly known as an SR-22) to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on behalf of its insureds, the Pattens, contending that, as a matter of law, it was not compelled to issue such a certificate but could choose to do so or not in its unfettered discretion.

Its motion was denied, and it now has petitioned for a writ of mandate to compel the trial court to vacate its order of May 26, 1989, wherein it denied *1460 State Farm’s motion for summary adjudication of issues, and to compel it to enter a new order granting the motion in favor of State Farm and against plaintiffs below and real parties in interest here, Marvin Ross Patten and Virginia Patten, State Farm’s insureds.

Facts

Marvin Ross Patten (Patten) purchased an automobile…