Uhrich v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.

109 Cal. App. 4th 598, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4944, 135 Cal. Rptr. 2d 131, 2003 Daily Journal DAR 6225, 2003 Cal. App. LEXIS 840
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 9, 2003
DocketNo. C036415
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 109 Cal. App. 4th 598 (Uhrich v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Uhrich v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 109 Cal. App. 4th 598, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4944, 135 Cal. Rptr. 2d 131, 2003 Daily Journal DAR 6225, 2003 Cal. App. LEXIS 840 (Cal. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Opinion

MORRISON, J.

Plaintiff Jean Marie Uhrich sued Paul Alan Lindseth on a number of legal theories. Lindseth tendered defense of the suit to his two [604]*604insurance companies: American Home Assurance Company (American), which declined to provide a defense, and State Farm Fire & Casualty Company (State Farm, defendant herein), which provided a defense, but then withdrew under a reservation of rights.

Uhrich and Lindseth settled the underlying case, and Lindseth assigned his bad faith claims to Uhrich. After a monetary judgment was entered in the underlying suit, Uhrich sued the insurers seeking payment of policy limits toward the judgment, and bad faith damages for wrongful refusal of a defense for Lindseth. The trial court granted State Farm’s summary judgment motion and Uhrich filed this appeal from the ensuing judgment. Uhrich obtained a judgment against American, which is now pending on appeal in a separate action. (Uhrich v. American Home Assurance Co. (C037332, app. pending).)

In this appeal, Uhrich contends State Farm had a duty to defend Lindseth because there was a possibility of coverage for some of her claims against him. We disagree and shall affirm the judgment.

I. Background

A. The Policy

State Farm issued Lindseth a $1 million “Personal Liability Umbrella Policy” which we will assume covered the relevant time period. A “loss” was defined as “an accident that results in personal injury or property damages during the policy period.” “Personal injury” meant “bodily harm, sickness, disease, shock, mental anguish or mental injury,” as well as specified torts such as false imprisonment, defamation, invasion of privacy and assault and battery.

The policy excluded personal injury “a. which is either expected or intended by you; or [|] b. to any person or property which is the result of your willful or malicious act.” The policy also excluded coverage for “any loss caused by providing or failing to provide a professional service” and “any loss caused by your business operations or arising out of business property.” “Business” was “a trade, profession or occupation,” and “business property” referred to realty, not personalty.

B. The Underlying Complaint

1. Factual Allegations

On May 25, 1994, Uhrich sued Lindseth (Uhrich v. Lindseth (Super. Ct. Sac. County, No. 540825)), asserting numerous legal theories arising out of a vendetta by Lindseth, ending in a conspiracy to pervert justice.

[605]*605Lindseth, a psychologist, treated Uhrich from 1987 to 1989. During that period, Lindseth hired her to form and direct a residential treatment facility. Uhrich sued Lindseth (Uhrich v. Lindseth (Super. Ct. Sac. County, No. 514920)) alleging malpractice, breach of contract and related claims. Uhrich and Lindseth settled. Lindseth paid Uhrich $110,000 and released a conversion cross-claim alleging Uhrich had stolen patient files from the treatment facility. Lindseth was also obliged to attend a confrontational mediation session with Uhrich, but he breached the conditions therefor.

Meanwhile the California Attorney General had begun a disciplinary proceeding against Lindseth, alleging misconduct relating to Uhrich and another patient, particularly alleging inadequate recordkeeping. Lindseth defended in part by alleging Uhrich stole his patient files and records.

Lindseth also enlisted two men (Splawn and Johnson) into a conspiracy to convince the authorities that Uhrich had in fact stolen his files, and used or planned to use them for extortion, and had perjured herself during the first case.

The conspirators provided false information that led to the issuance of a search warrant for Uhrich’s house. Uhrich alleged the search was degrading, officers seized her diary and personal and business records, and confidential information was disclosed to Lindseth. The criminal investigation was eventually dropped and her personal property was returned.

2. Legal Theories

Uhrich framed her complaint in terms of numerous legal theories, wrongly denominated as separate causes of action. (See Slater v. Blackwood (1975) 15 Cal.3d 791, 795-796 [126 Cal.Rptr. 225, 543 P.2d 593]; Barrett v. Superior Court (1990) 222 Cal.App.3d 1176, 1181-1182 [272 Cal.Rptr. 304].) Further, the complaint employs the disfavored practice of incorporating all or most prior paragraphs within each purported cause of action. “This type of pleading should be avoided as it tends to cause ambiguity and creates redundancy.” (Kelly v. General Telephone Co. (1982) 136 Cal.App.3d 278, 285 [186 Cal.Rptr. 184].) Our summary does not track the complaint, which improperly labels issues such as emotional distress damages and civil conspiracy liability as counts or causes of action. Uhrich claimed:

1. Malpractice—for breach of “continuing duties” after Lindseth stopped treating Uhrich, by revealing information gleaned during therapy, for breaching the first settlement and falsely reporting perjury and theft of patient files and by failing to prevent “ ‘ countertransference. ’ ”
[606]*6062. Interference with prospective economic advantage.
3. Malicious prosecution or abuse of process.
4. “Stalking”—for pestering Uhrich and her parents and threatening or attempting vandalism and burglary against her, and planting evidence to incriminate her.
5. Assault and battery—for causing peace officers to make offensive contact with Uhrich.
6. False imprisonment—for making false statements that resulted in the search warrant.
7. Trespass—for causing entry into her residence pursuant to the search warrant.
8. Conversion or trespass to chattel—for detention of personal property during and after execution of the warrant.
9. Defamation—for making three defamatory statements “to multiple third parties,” viz. (1) Uhrich perjured herself, (2) she stole files, and (3) she “posed an immediate danger to the public through extortion of the patients.”
10. Intentional infliction of emotional distress—based on the above conduct.
11. Negligence, characterized as “Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress” or NIED.
12. Invasion of privacy.

C. The Tender and Withdrawal

On February 23, 1995, State Farm accepted defense of the underlying case with a reservation of rights, stating it did not believe there was any coverage under any of Lindseth’s policies (only the umbrella policy is at issue).

Lindseth later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to “pervert and obstruct justice” as detailed below. State Farm then withdrew its defense, for lack of coverage.

D. The Second Settlement and Judgment

On March 4, 1997, Uhrich and Lindseth settled the underlying case.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Eng v. Opperman
California Court of Appeal, 2025
Divino Plastic Surgery v. Super. Ct.
California Court of Appeal, 2022
Divino Plastic Surgery, Inc. v. Superior Court
California Court of Appeal, 2022
Shirvanyan v. Los Angeles Community College etc.
California Court of Appeal, 2020
Energy Ins. Mutual Ltd. v. Ace American Ins. Co.
California Court of Appeal, 2017
Energy Ins. Mut. Ltd. v. Ace Am. Ins. Co.
221 Cal. Rptr. 3d 711 (California Court of Appeals, 5th District, 2017)
Golden Eagle Ins. Corp. v. Munoz CA4/3
California Court of Appeal, 2016
People v. Ferguson CA4/3
California Court of Appeal, 2015
Mt. Hawley Ins. Co. v. Lopez
California Court of Appeal, 2013
Vieira Enterprises, Inc. v. City of East Palo Alto
208 Cal. App. 4th 584 (California Court of Appeal, 2012)
Lyons v. Fire Insurance Exchange
74 Cal. Rptr. 3d 649 (California Court of Appeal, 2008)
Stellar v. State Farm General Insurance
69 Cal. Rptr. 3d 350 (California Court of Appeal, 2007)
Castillo v. Barrera
53 Cal. Rptr. 3d 494 (California Court of Appeal, 2007)
Uhrich v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co.
135 Cal. Rptr. 2d 131 (California Court of Appeal, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
109 Cal. App. 4th 598, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4944, 135 Cal. Rptr. 2d 131, 2003 Daily Journal DAR 6225, 2003 Cal. App. LEXIS 840, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/uhrich-v-state-farm-fire-casualty-co-calctapp-2003.