Litigation
Cal. Litig. 2018, Volume 31, Number 3
Content
- A Dozen Brilliant Litigation Strategies That Backfire in Arbitration
- Editor's Foreword: Full Courts
- From the Section Chair Looking back; looking forward
- Masthead
- Past Chairs of the Litigation Section
- Past Editors-in-Chief
- Resolving Discovery Disputes in Federal Courts
- Strengthening the Civil Jury
- Table of Contents
- Ten Tips for Writing a Winning Arbitration Brief
- The California Supreme Court, 2017-2018: Coping With a Short Bench
- The E-Word: Emotions, Women, and the Law
- The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption by Richard L. Hasen
- What Is Neutral-Driven Dispute Resolution (Ndr) and When Do I Need It?
- New Liberty From Liability Insurance Coverage Worries
New Liberty From Liability Insurance Coverage Worries
By Michael G. Dawe & Brian D. Cronin
The California Supreme Court recently put to rest an important issue of insurance coverage that will impact all businesses and individuals who purchase general liability insurance to protect themselves from negligence-based liability claims.
In Liberty Surplus Insurance Corporation v. Ledesma & Meyer Construction Company (2018) 5 Cal.5th 216 ("Liberty"), the specific issue the court addressed does not at first glance sound like one that would be relevant to most people. The issue was whether an employer and its individual owners were potentially covered by their general liability insurance when sued for the negligent hiring, retention, and supervision of an employee accused of molesting a child while on a construction project at a school. However, the court’s opinion goes far beyond the limited reach of this factual scenario, and clarifies a major area of uncertainty that has affected all liability insurance policy holders.
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