California Supreme Court Limits Foster-Gardner, Determines That An Administrative Trial Proceeding Constitutes A “Suit” For Purposes Of General Liability Coverage
In September, we reported on the September 7, 2010 oral argument before the California Supreme Court in Ameron International v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania. The prior report includes a detailed factual discussion, but the key issue in Ameron is whether an administrative proceeding initiated by the filing of a complaint and culminating in a 22 day trial before a federal administrative law judge constitutes a "suit" that triggers insurance coverage under a commercial general liability policy which does not define the term. We also noted that a majority of the court appeared to be open to including...