Service Management System, Inc. v. Steadfast Insurance

MEMORANDUM *

In this diversity action arising out of California law, Service Management Systems, Inc., (“SMS”) sued Steadfast Insurance Company (“Steadfast”) for not defending and indemnifying SMS against a slip-and-fall action. SMS appeals the district court’s summary dismissal of its state tort claims and its request for a declaratory judgment that Steadfast waived or was estopped from asserting a defense based on SMS’s violations of the insurance contract’s notice and reporting requirements. Steadfast cross-appeals the court’s partial summary judgment holding that Steadfast had a duty to indemnify and defend SMS, *664 and therefore breached the insurance contract. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

SMS concedes it violated the reporting requirements set forth in the Self Insured Retention (“SIR”) Endorsement to the primary Commercial General Liability policy, and Steadfast does not contend it can demonstrate prejudice from SMS’s violations. Therefore, the question of whether Steadfast had a duty to defend and indemnify, and thus, whether it breached the insurance contract, centers on whether California’s notice-prejudice rule applies to this…