Supreme Court of California

An insurance company's breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, through the retroactive overcharging of a premium it knows is not owed, is limited to only contract damages where tort remedies are unnecessary to protect the insured's interests.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/05/2004
• Published 08/05/2004

Judges

•  MORENO, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Deborah J. La Fetra, Sacramento, for Pacific Legal Foundation as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant., Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, Paul E.B. Glad, Cheryl Dyer Berg and Sean McEneaney, San Francisco, for California Workers' Compensation Institute, Association of California Insurance Companies and Fireman's Fund Insurance Company as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
•  Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, Richard A. Brown, E. Randol Schoenberg, Los Angeles;  Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland, Irving H. Greines, Robin Meadow, Los Angeles, Tyna Thall Orren, Pasadena, and Peter O. Israel, Los Angeles, for Plaintiff and Appellant and for Cross-defendant and Appellant.,  Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, Christina J. Imre and Stephanie Rae Williams, Los Angeles, for Aetna Healthcare of California and Aetna Life Insurance Company as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant and Cross-defendant and Appellant., Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, Thomas E. McDonald and Sanford Kingsley, San Francisco, for California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant and Cross-defendant and Appellant., Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Manuel M. Medeiros, State Solicitor General, David S. Chaney, Assistant Attorney General, and Elisa B. Wolfe-Donato, Deputy Attorney General as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant and Cross-defendant and Appellant., Horvitz & Levy, Mitchell C. Tilner and S. Thomas Todd, Encino, for State Compensation Insurance Fund as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Cross-defendant and Appellant., Heller Ehrman White & McAulife, Vanessa Wells, Victoria Collman Brown and Jessica Rossman, Menlo Park, for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Cross-defendant and Appellant., McCormick, Barstow, Sheppard, Wayte & Carruth, James P. Wagoner, Wendy S. Lloyd and David W. Burnett, Fresno, for Defendant, Cross-complainant and Appellant and for Cross-complainants and Appellants., Robert S. Gerstein, Santa Monica;  Gianelli & Morris, Robert S. Gianelli and Sherril Nell Babcock, Los Angeles, for Consumer Attorneys of California as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant, Cross-complainant and Appellant and Cross-complainants and Appellants., Emerson Corey & Barsotti and Todd B. Barsotti, Fresno, for Cross-defendant and Respondent.