City of San Buenaventura v. The Ins. Co. of PA, No. 10-56727 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseThis appeal was consolidated from lawsuits brought by the City against two insurance companies. Both insurers rejected the City's claims for coverage for the underlying litigation between the City and condominium buyers. The insurers claimed that the City's alleged negligence and wrongful conduct in connection with the underlying litigation occurred prior to their policy periods. The district court agreed and granted summary judgment in favor of the insurers. The court rejected the City's argument for extending Montrose Chemical Corp. v. Admiral Insurance Co., which held that claims for pollutants deposited in the ground prior to the policy period, but continuing to leach into soil and groundwater during the policy period, gave rise to a duty to defend, because continuance of the property damage during the policy period gave rise to coverage.
Court Description: Insurance Law. The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of insurers in a declaratory judgment action brought by the City of Buenaventura to establish insurance coverage in underlying condominium buyers’ litigation against the City. The panel held under California law that any occurrence or wrongful act alleged by the condominium buyers took place prior to the policy periods, and therefore there was no insurance coverage. The panel declined to extend the holding in Montrose Chemical Corp. v. Admiral Ins. Co., 913 P.2d 878 (Cal. 1995) (holding that claims for pollutants deposited into the ground prior to the insurance policy period, but continuing to leach into soil and groundwater during the policy period, gave rise to insurance coverage), to this case to extend the period of insurance coverage. CITY OF SAN BUENAVENTURA V. THE INS. CO. OF PA. 3
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.