Fireman's Fund Insurance v. Alaskan Pride Partnership

ORDER

The Memorandum disposition filed January 6, 1997, is redesignated as an authored Opinion by Judge Wright.

OPINION

Plaintiff Fireman’s Fund (“Insurer”) insured defendant Alaskan Pride Partnership’s fishing vessel, the Alaskan Pride. The vessel sank in the Bering Sea in February 1993, after inexplicably taking on water. Insurer denied coverage for the loss and sued for a declaratory judgment that the loss was not covered, and the Partnership counterclaimed for coverage and for bad faith. The jury found for the Partnership on both claims, but neither party was able to establish a cause for the sinking.

On appeal, Insurer challenges several evi-dentiary rulings and jury instructions, and it argues that the jury could not have found bad faith because the cause of the sinking was unknown. The Partnership cross-appeals the court’s denial of prejudgment interest at the contract rate. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we affirm.

I. Evidentiary Rulings

We review evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. Masson v. New Yorker Magazine, Inc., 85 F.3d 1394, 1399 (9th Cir.1996). Even upon a finding of abuse, reversal is warranted only if the error was prejudicial.…