James Gordon, Jr. v. Commonwealth Marketing Group I

MEMORANDUM

Third-party Defendants-Appellants IMG Associates and Impulse Marketing Group, Inc. (collectively, IMG), appeal the district court’s summary judgment in favor of Defendant-Third-party Plaintiff, Commonwealth Marketing Group, Inc. (Commonwealth) under the parties’ Marketing Service Agreement (Agreement), which is governed by Georgia law. As the facts and procedural history are familiar to the parties, we do not recite them here except as necessary to explain our disposition. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

We review de novo a grant of summary judgment. Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. Thompson, 363 F.3d 1013 , 1019 (9th Cir.2004). Under Georgia law, the duty to defend is broader than the duty to indemnify. Shafe v. Am. States Ins. Co., 288 Ga.App. 315 , 653 S.E.2d 870, 873 (2007). The duty to defend arises upon the allegation of statutory violations; the merit of those claims is irrelevant. Penn-America Ins. Co. v. Disabled Am. Veterans Inc., 224 Ga.App. 557 , 481 S.E.2d 850, 852 (1997), affd 268 Ga. 450 , 490 S.E.2d 372 (1997). The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Commonwealth because it found that IMG breached its…