California Court of Appeal

In insurance coverage dispute arising out of payment of numerous asbestos claims, summary judgment for cross-complainant asbestos manufacturer is reversed and remanded, where: 1) under the plain language of the excess policy and the principle of "horizontal exhaustion," the cross-defendant excess insurer is not responsible to indemnify the asbestos manufacturer for losses until all primary policies have been exhausted; 2) the policies plaintiff-primary insurer issued to asbestos manufacturer cannot be stacked, as the excess insurer claims; but 3) the matter is remanded to the trial court to determine whether the asbestos manufacturer therefore is entitled to summary adjudication excess insurer is responsible to pay all amounts exceeding the plaintiff-primary insurer's limit.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/08/2013
• Published 04/08/2013

Judges

• SUZUKAWA

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel