Travelers Property Casualty Company of America v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

TRAVELERS PROPERTY CASUALTY Case No. 22-cv-05803-VC

COMPANY OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING ALDRIDGE’S

MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY

v. JUDGMENT AND DENYING

SKANSKA’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL

LIBERTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE SUMMARY JUDGMENT

COMPANY, et al., Re: Dkt. Nos. 61, 62 Defendants.

The Aldridge/Rosendin Joint Venture and the Skanska-Shimmick-Herzog Joint Venture each moved for partial summary judgment on the question whether Liberty Mutual owed a duty to defend them in an underlying action pending in state court. Aldridge’s motion is granted. Skanska’s motion is denied. This order assumes the reader’s familiarity with the facts of the case, the relevant law, the parties’ arguments, and the discussion had at the motion hearing. Aldridge offers two grounds in support of its motion. First, it argues that the state court pleadings alone triggered Liberty Mutual’s duty to defend, because the allegations evinced a potential for coverage. See Horace Mann Insurance Company v. Barbara B., 4 Cal. 4th 1076, 1081 (1993) (“The determination whether the insurer owes a duty to…