Berg v. First State Insurance

915 F.2d 460
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 25, 1990
DocketNos. 88-6682, 89-55004 and 89-55054
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 915 F.2d 460 (Berg v. First State Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Berg v. First State Insurance, 915 F.2d 460 (9th Cir. 1990).

Opinions

LEAVY, Circuit Judge:

OVERVIEW

Six former directors of the Getty Oil Company (Getty Oil) appeal from the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the appellees, First State Insurance Company (First State) and Harbor Insurance Company (Harbor) (collectively, the insurers). The directors claim their liability insurance policies were wrongfully cancelled when the insurers learned of the directors’ potential liability for in excess of $10 billion on shareholder derivative suits as a result of the Texaco/Pennzoil battle for control of Getty Oil.

The directors sued the insurers for the wrongful cancellation, alleging claims under RICO and California law. The insurers moved for summary judgment. They argued that the directors could not prevail as a matter of law because there were no actual damages. The district court agreed with the insurers and granted summary judgment on all claims with the exception of two state law claims. Those state claims were later dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Both the directors and the insurers appeal the rulings of the district court. The decision of the district court is affirmed.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

The directors were the named insureds of directors’ and officers’ liability policies (the policies) first purchased by Getty Oil and issued in 1983 by First State and Harbor. The policies provided $60 million in coverage.1

On December 10, 1985, a Texas state court entered a $11.12 billion judgment against Texaco and in favor of Pennzoil for Texaco’s tortious interference with a contract. The lawsuit arose from Texaco and Pennzoil’s highly publicized battle in late 1983-early 1984 for control of Getty Oil, in which Texaco offered to buy Getty stock at a substantially higher price than Pennzoil previously had offered. Pennzoil claimed it had reached an agreement with Getty to purchase the stock.

During the takeover battle, the directors’ and officers’ liability policies Getty had purchased were in effect. Texaco itself had first cancelled the policies after it acquired Getty Oil. Texaco converted the policies to three-year run-off coverage until May 1, 1987, for acts committed before May 1, 1984. In February and March of 1985, the insurers cancelled the run-off policies without notice to the directors. At that time the insurers were aware of the potential lawsuits and liability.

In early 1986, after entry of the judgment against Texaco, Texaco shareholders filed derivative suits against each of the Getty Oil directors, seeking damages in excess of $10 billion. For the first time, the Getty Oil directors learned the insurers had cancelled their liability policies.

The directors brought this action against the insurers pursuant to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968. They also alleged state law causes of action sounding in tort and contract, and under the California Insurance Code. They requested treble damages, punitive damages of not less than $100 million, attorneys’ fees and costs, and indemnification for all judgments, fees, and costs incurred in defending any shareholders’ derivative suits.

In April 1987, Texaco filed for bankruptcy. In December of 1987 or March of 1988, the bankruptcy reorganization of Texaco resulted in the dismissal of all the shareholder derivative suits against the Getty Oil directors. Texaco purchased the directors another run-off policy covering them to $40 million until January of 1990.

In July 1988, the insurers moved for summary judgment. They argued that the directors were not entitled to damages as a matter of law because they could no longer [463]*463prove any damage. They asserted that Texaco ultimately paid all of the directors’ expenses incurred in the defense of the derivative suits and that as a result of a joint plan of reorganization between Texaco and Pennzoil in bankruptcy court, these companies agreed to mutually release each other and the Getty Oil directors from all claims arising out of the Texaco-Getty merger. This resulted in the dismissal of the Texaco shareholder suits. It is undisputed that the directors have incurred no costs or attorneys’ fees in either the derivative suits or in this action.

The district court granted summary judgment to the insurers as to all counts of the complaint except those alleging breach of contract and equitable estoppel under California law, which were dismissed later for lack of federal subject matter jurisdiction.

The directors appeal. They contend they lost a valuable property interest when their insurance was cancelled, regardless of whether they incurred any loss of money. The directors claim they are entitled to treble damages under RICO because they have alleged actual injury to property as required by 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c). They also claim they may receive compensatory damages equal to the market value of the policies at the time they learned of the cancellation. They claim they may seek compensatory damage for emotional distress, regardless of whether they sustained any other actual loss, because they lost the peace of mind and security that the insurance was purchased to provide. They also claim the collateral source rule allows them to be compensated for the cost of partial replacement insurance even though Texaco paid for it. Finally, the directors claim they are entitled to punitive damages whether or not they are entitled to compensatory damages because the insurers wrongfully cancelled their policies when they knew there was a potentially tremendous payout.

The insurers cross-appeal the dismissal of the state law claims for breach of contract and equitable estoppel. Harbor argues the district court abused its discretion in failing to retain jurisdiction over these counts because it had expended significant time and effort in the two years it had jurisdiction over this action. Harbor claims that duplicative efforts at great expense will result if litigation is reinstituted in the California Superior Court.

DISCUSSION

The Factual Disagreements on Appeal

While the parties dispute the facts, they both agree that the motion before the district court was premised only on the legal insufficiency of the directors' claims, not the presence of disputed facts.

Therefore, we will decide only whether the defendants were entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the claims raised in the complaint.

The RICO Claim2

RICO provides in pertinent part that

Any person injured in his business or property by reason of a violation of section 1962 of this chapter may sue therefor in any appropriate United States district court and shall recover threefold the damages he sustains and the cost of the suit, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.

18 U.S.C. § 1964(c).3 The district court ruled the directors did not incur any ex[464]*464penses and therefore could prove no actual damage under RICO.

Recently, this court held that “[ajbsent damages, a RICO claim cannot be sustained.” First Pacific Bancorp, Inc. v. Bro,

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Bluebook (online)
915 F.2d 460, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berg-v-first-state-insurance-ca9-1990.