Pacific Employers Insurance Company v. Domino's Pizza, Inc.

144 F.3d 1270, 1998 WL 354248
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJuly 6, 1998
Docket96-56858, 97-55178
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 144 F.3d 1270 (Pacific Employers Insurance Company v. Domino's Pizza, Inc.) 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
Pacific Employers Insurance Company v. Domino's Pizza, Inc., 144 F.3d 1270, 1998 WL 354248 (9th Cir. 1998).

Opinion

T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judge:

Domino’s Pizza, Incorporated, appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Pacific Employers Insurance Company (“PEIC”) on the question of the allocation of the cost of settling a lawsuit. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm.

I.

A. The Underlying Action

A Domino’s employee, Joseph Duran, while driving his personal vehicle on his way home from work, fell asleep at the wheel and caused an accident in which one person was killed and another was severely injured. Two lawsuits were filed against Domino’s on behalf of the victims (“underlying lawsuits”), alleging that Domino’s coerced and compelled Duran to work thirty-one out of the previous thirty-six hours, knowing that Duran would need to drive sixty miles home on the freeway after leaving work, and that Domino’s should have foreseen that such excessively long work hours would impair Duran’s ability to safely operate a motor vehicle and create a substantial risk of harm to others using the public roadways. Domino’s, through its comprehensive general liability insurers, settled the underlying lawsuits for $11.5 million.

B. The Insurance Policies

At the time of the accident, Domino’s was covered by the following insurance policies:

1. Comprehensive General Liability (“CGL”) Policies:
a. ZurichrAmerican Insurance Group (“Zurich”): a policy providing $1 million in CGL coverage (“Zurich CGL policy”). This is a “fronting policy” under which Domino’s is required to pay all indemnity and defense obligations for losses covered by the policy.
b. United States Fire Insurance Company (“USF”): an umbrella policy providing $5 million in coverage in excess of the coverage provided by the “underlying insurance.” The “underlying insurance” for CGL coverage is identified as the $1 million Zurich CGL policy.
c. PEIC: an umbrella policy providing $15 million in coverage in excess of the $5 million coverage provided by the “underlying insurance,” which is identified as the USF policy.

*1273 Domino’s CGL coverage can be summarized as follows:

CGL Total
Coverage CGL Policy
$ 1 million Zurich CGL-$1 million
$ 6 million USF-$5 million
$21 million PEIC-$15 million
2. Automobile Liability Policies:
a. Zurich: a policy providing $1 million of automobile liability coverage (“Zurich BAP policy”). This is a “fronting policy” under which Domino’s is required to pay all indemnity and defense obligations for losses covered by the policy.
b. Home Insurance Company (“Home”): a policy providing $1 million of automobile liability coverage in excess of the $2 million coverage provided by the “underlying insurance.” It is uncontroverted that the $2 million “underlying insurance” consists of the $1 million Zurich BAP policy and a $1 million Domino’s self-insured retention.
c. USF: the same umbrella policy described above providing $5 milhon in coverage in excess of the coverage provided by the “underlying insurance.” The “underlying insurance” for nonowned automobile liability coverage is defined as the self-insured retention ($1 milhon), the Zurich pohcy ($1 milhon) and the Home pohcy ($1 milhon).
d. PEIC: the same umbrella pohcy described above providing $15 milhon in coverage in excess of the coverage provided by the “underlying insurance,” which is defined as the USF pohcy.

Domino’s automobile liability coverage can be summarized as follows:

Automobile Total
Liability Policy Coverage
Zurich BAP-$1 milhon $ 1 milhon
Domino’s self-insured retention-$l milhon $ 2 milhon
Home-$l million $ 3 milhon
USF-$5 milhon $ 8 milhon
PEIC-$15 milhon $23 milhon

C. The Present Action

The $11.5 milhon settlement was paid as follows: Domino’s paid $1 milhon through the fronted Zurich CGL pohcy; USF paid $5 milhon under its CGL pohcy; and PEIC paid the remaining $5.5 milhon under its CGL pohcy. PEIC then filed the present action for declaratory relief, indemnity, contribution and equitable subrogation in federal district court. In this action, PEIC sought additional contribution from Domino’s and Home. There was no controversy regarding the $5 milhon payment by USF.

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of PEIC, holding that the automobile hability hne of insurance was triggered by the accident. The court therefore required Home to contribute $1 milhon toward the settlement and Domino’s to contribute an additional $1 milhon to account for the self-insured retention. The resulting allocation is as follows: Domino’s via the Zurich BAP pohcy-$l milhon; Domino’s via the self-insured retention-$l milhon; Home-$l milhon; USF-$5 milhon; and PEIC-$3.5 mil-hon. Domino’s timely appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment. 1

II.

A. Jurisdiction Over Declaratory Relief Action

Domino’s argues that the district court erred by fading to consider the abstention doctrine before exercising jurisdiction over this declaratory relief action. We disagree.

There is no evidence that Domino’s ever raised the abstention issue before the district court, or that the district court considered abstaining from the case. Furthermore, it is undisputed that the district court had both constitutional and statutory jurisdiction to hear this declaratory judgment action. The district court could therefore “entertain the action without, sua sponte addressing whether jurisdiction should be declined.” Government Employees Ins. Co. v. Dizol, 133 F.3d 1220, 1224-25 (9th Cir.1998).

B. Grant of Summary Judgment

We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Forsyth v. Humana, Inc., 114 F.3d 1467, 1474 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 118 S.Ct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 F.3d 1270, 1998 WL 354248, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pacific-employers-insurance-company-v-dominos-pizza-inc-ca9-1998.