Gemini Insurance v. Delos Insurance

Appellant Delos Insurance Company appeals from the judgment entered in favor of respondent Gemini Insurance Company after Gemini’s motion for summary judgment was granted. We affirm.

*721 Summary

A restaurant’s insurance policy included an additional insured endorsement which made the restaurant’s landlord an additional insured with respect to the landlord’s liability arising from the restaurant’s acts undertaken in the course of the restaurant’s operations on the leased premises. The insurance policy also had an exclusion for claims or suits between insureds.

The tenant negligently started a fire on the leased premises. The fire damaged the landlord’s property, and the landlord sought to recover from the restaurant for the damages.

This case poses a single question: Was the tenant covered for the landlord’s claim, or was coverage barred by the interinsured exclusion? In this opinion, we hold that the interinsured exclusion did not bar coverage for the landlord’s claim against the tenant.

Facts

Delos insured a restaurant called Bobby’s Focsle and its owners, Helen and Bobby Boyett (hereafter Bobby’s). Bobby’s was located in the Loch Lomond Marina in San Rafael, and…