Dobbas

This case reviews the denial of American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Company’s motion to intervene in an action between James Dobbas and Fred Vitas and Fred Vitas Insurance Agency. The action is based on Vitas’s failure to obtain excess insurance to cover an injury for which Dobbas was liable and for which American Guarantee was obligated to pay as an excess insurer. American Guarantee’s claimed interest in the action is as a subrogee to Dobbas for Vitas’s liability for failing to provide insurance to cover the injury.

The issue arises in the following way.

James Dobbas (Dobbas), the owner of a bull that escaped its pasture and caused a fatal automobile accident, sued his insurance agent, Fred Vitas and Vitas Insurance Agency (Vitas), because the agent either failed to procure or cancelled excess liability insurance from CalFarm Insurance Company (CalFarm) to cover the owner’s ranching operations.

The claims of the injured parties were eventually paid pursuant to an excess policy issued by American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Company (American Guarantee), which listed Dobbas as a named insured. Dobbas assigned his rights against Vitas to the accident…