Nueva
John Deere Insurance v. Nueva
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Hug, J.
We are asked to decide whether a federally mandated endorsement to an insurance policy creates a duty on the part of an insurer to indemnify a permissive user of an auto not covered by the underlying policy for injuries he negligently caused to members of the public. The district court found that the endorsement did not modify the policy to require indemnification and granted summary judgment for the insurer. This is an issue of first impression for this circuit. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C § 1291, and for the following reasons, we reverse the district court judgment.
BACKGROUND
This appeal arises out of an underlying-personal injury action entitled Nueva v. Garcha, et. al, Los Angeles County Superior Court Case No. TC 009762 (“underlying action”). The underlying facts, which are not in dispute, are that a tractor/semitrailer operated by Gurmukh Singh Gar-cha (“Garcha”) and Blue Star transportation (“Blue Star”) rear-ended a Los Ange-les County Metropolitan Transit Authority (“LACMTA”) bus operated by Guillermo Nueva (“Nueva”) (collectively “Appellants”). The collision resulted in a total loss to the bus and personal injuries to Nueva.