The Haven at Ventura, LLC v. General Security Indemnity Company of Arizona

CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedAugust 8, 2025
Docket2:22-cv-01284
StatusUnknown

This text of The Haven at Ventura, LLC v. General Security Indemnity Company of Arizona (The Haven at Ventura, LLC v. General Security Indemnity Company of Arizona) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Haven at Ventura, LLC v. General Security Indemnity Company of Arizona, (C.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 O 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 Case No.: 2:22-cv-01284-MEMF-MAA 8 THE HAVEN AT VENTURA, LLC, 9 Plaintiff, ORDER ON MOTIONS IN LIMINE [ECF NOS. 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 10 v. 124, 125, 126]

11 GENERAL SECURITY INDEMINTY 12 COMPANY OF ARIZONA ET AL., 13 Defendants. 14

15 16 17 18 Before the Court are five (5) Motions in Limine (ECF Nos. 122, 123, 124, 125, 126) and a 19 Motion to Bifurcate Trial of Breach of Contract and Declaratory Relief Claims Before Trial of 20 Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing (ECF No. 121) filed by Defendants 21 General Security Indemnity Company of Arizona, Westchester Surplus Lines Insurance Company, 22 Endurance American Specialty Insurance Company, and Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London 23 Known as Syndicates TMK 510 and TMK 1880. Also before the Court are five (5) Motions in 24 Limine filed by Plaintiff (ECF Nos. 115, 117, 118, 119, 120). For the reasons stated herein, the Court 25 rules on the motions as described below. 26 The parties are ORDERED to advise their witnesses of these rulings. Should a witness be 27 required to refer to excluded material in order to answer a question truthfully, the witness should 28 1 indicate that a sidebar is needed and should not refer to the excluded material in the presence of the 2 jury. 3 I. Background 4 A. Factual Background 5 The Court’s factual findings are listed on its Amended Order Granting in Part Defendants’ 6 Motion for Summary Judgment. ECF No. 96. As such, the Court will only briefly outline the general 7 factual background for this action here. 8 This action arises from allegations by Plaintiff the Haven at Ventura, LLC (“Plaintiff” or 9 “Haven”) that Defendants General Security Indemnity Company of Arizona (“GSICA”), 10 Westchester Surplus Lines Insurance Company (“Westchester”), Endurance American Specialty 11 Insurance Company (“EASIC”), Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London Known as Syndicates 12 TMK 510 and TMK 1880 (“Lloyd’s,” or collectively with GSICA, Westchester, EASIC, and 13 Lloyd’s, “Defendants”) impermissibly denied Plaintiffs’s insurance claim for damage to an 14 apartment complex that Plaintiff constructed. 15 B. Procedural History 16 Plaintiff filed the Complaint in this Court on February 24, 2022. ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”). The 17 Complaint alleges six causes of action against all Defendants including: (1) a claim for declaratory 18 relief that certain of Plaintiff’s losses fall outside the scope of the Fungus Exclusion; (2) a claim for 19 declaratory relief that the Claim falls within the Mold Coverage Extension; (3) a claim for 20 declaratory relief that the Claim falls within the coverage afforded for Delay in Opening; (4) a claim 21 for breach of contract based on Defendants’ failure to pay the Claim; (5) a claim for breach of 22 contract based on Defendants’ failure to cover the losses related to a delay in opening (6) a claim for 23 breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. See generally Compl. 24 On September 27, 2024, the Court denied the parties’ Motion for Summary Judgment as to 25 all causes of action and granted the Motion as to Plaintiff’s request for punitive damages. ECF 96 26 (“MSJ Order”). 27 The parties filed their initial Motions in Limine on June 26, 2024 (ECF Nos. 79, 80, 82, 86, 28 87, 88, 89, 90), which were denied as moot on February 25, 2025 (ECF No. 100). 1 Plaintiff refiled its Motions in Limine on June 25, 2025 (ECF Nos. 115, 117, 118, 119, 120). 2 Defendants also refiled their Motions in Limine and filed the Motion to Bifurcate Trial of Breach of 3 Contract and Declaratory Relief Claims Before Trial of Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith 4 and Fair Dealing (“Motion to Bifurcate Trial”) on June 25, 2025 (ECF Nos. 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 5 126). Plaintiff filed oppositions to Defendants’ Motions in Limine and Motion to Bifurcate Trial on 6 July 9, 2025 (ECF Nos. 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144). On the same day, Defendants filed 7 oppositions to Plaintiff’s Motions in Limine (ECF Nos. 146, 147, 148, 149, 150). 8 The Court held a hearing on the motions at the Final Pretrial Conference on August 6, 2025. 9 The Court provided an oral tentative at the outset of the hearing, to which the parties largely 10 submitted, with the exception of Plaintiff’s Motion in Limine No. 1, and Defendants’ Motion in 11 Limine Nos. 1 and 2. 12 II. Applicable Law 13 A. Motions in Limine 14 A motion in limine is “a procedural mechanism to limit in advance testimony or evidence in 15 a particular area.” United States v. Heller, 551 F.3d 1108, 1111 (9th Cir. 2009). A party files a 16 motion in limine to exclude anticipated prejudicial evidence before the evidence is introduced at 17 trial. See Luce v. United States, 469 U.S. 38, 40 n.2 (1984). A court has the power to grant such 18 motions pursuant to its “inherent authority to manage trials,” even though such rulings are not 19 explicitly authorized by the Federal Rules of Evidence. Id. at 41 n.4 (citation omitted). Regardless of 20 a court’s initial decision on a motion in limine, it may revisit the issue at trial. Id. at 41–42 (“[E]ven 21 if nothing unexpected happens at trial, the district judge is free, in the exercise of sound judicial 22 discretion, to alter a previous in limine ruling.”). 23 B. Federal Rules of Evidence 401 and 402 24 Federal Rule of Evidence 402 explicitly prohibits the inclusion of “irrelevant” evidence. Fed. 25 R. Evid. 402. The Rule dictates that “[r]elevant evidence is admissible unless any of the following 26 provides other: the United States Constitution; a federal statute; these rules; or other rules prescribed 27 by the Supreme Court. Irrelevant evidence is not admissible.” Fed. R. Evid. 402. 28 1 Federal Rule of Evidence 401 prescribes what evidence qualifies as relevant. Fed. R. Evid. 2 401. It provides that evidence is relevant if: “(a) it has any tendency to make a fact more or less 3 probable than it would be without the evidence; and (b) the fact is of consequence in determining the 4 action.” Id. 401(a)–(b); see also Crawford v. City of Bakersfield, 944 F.3d 1070, 1077 (9th Cir. 5 2019) (“Deciding whether a fact is of consequence in determining the action generally requires 6 considering the substantive issues the case presents.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). Courts 7 have recognized that Rule 401’s “basic standard of relevance . . . is a liberal one.” Crawford, 944 8 F.3d at 1077. 9 C. Federal Rule of Evidence 403 10 Federal Rule of Evidence 403 dictates that “[t]he court may exclude relevant evidence if its 11 probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of one or more of the following: unfair 12 prejudice, confusing the issues, misleading the jury, undue delay, wasting time, or needlessly 13 presenting cumulative evidence.” Fed. R. Evid. 403.

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The Haven at Ventura, LLC v. General Security Indemnity Company of Arizona, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-haven-at-ventura-llc-v-general-security-indemnity-company-of-arizona-cacd-2025.