Travelers Prop. Cas. Co. of Am. v. Engel Insulation, Inc.

*832 Plaintiffs Travelers Property Casualty Company of America, the Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut, and St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company (collectively, Travelers) filed this action against certain subcontractors to recover attorneys' fees and costs Travelers incurred in defending developers Westlake Villas, LLC and Meer Capital Partners, LLC (collectively, Westlake) in a prior construction defect action. All of Travelers claims are based on alleged subrogation to the rights of its *833 additional insured, Westlake. The Westlake entities are suspended *625 corporations under Revenue and Taxation Code section 23301, and thus could not assert these claims on their own behalf. 1 Defendant Engel Insulation, Inc. moved for judgment on the pleadings on the basis that Travelers is also barred under this statute from prosecuting these claims. On appeal, Travelers contends the trial court erred in granting Engel's motion without leave to amend. We disagree. An insurer may not file its own action to assert claims solely as a subrogee of a suspended corporation. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2011, a homeowners' association filed the underlying…