Vons Companies Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.

MEMORANDUM *

Vons Companies Inc. (“Vons”) appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Aetna Casualty and Surety Company and Travelers Casualty and Surety Company (“Aetna”). The facts and prior proceedings are known to the parties, and are restated herein only as necessary.

I

A

Vons’ primary argument on appeal is that the insurance policy — which provides coverage for sums Vons “shall become legally obligated to pay as damages ... because of property damage [or] personal injury ... caused by an occurrence” — covers the sums they were required to pay to Foodmaker pursuant to a settlement agreement. Foodmaker sued Vons for lost profits, and those profits, the argument goes, were lost “because of’ the personal injury to Foodmaker’s customers; hence, the policy covers the settlement. Vons argues that the policy should be read coextensively with the insured’s legal liability for damages causally linked to covered property damage or bodily injury.

In Geddes & Smith, Inc. v. Saint Paul Mercury Indemnity Co., 51 Cal.2d 558 , 334 P.2d 881 (1959) (hereinafter Geddes I), the California Supreme Court had occasion to interpret a near-identical CGL policy, *691…