Court Opinion

ID: 9722460
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:32:59.779495+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:35.521413
License: Public Domain

WIENER, J.
I concur in the result reached by the majority in this case. The opinion’s discussion regarding the extent to which the insurer is a “true” fiduciary is well-written and certainly interesting in the abstract. Unfortunately, I find the discussion completely unnecessary to the result we reach. I do not read the majority to dispute that insurers owe fiduciary duties to insureds under certain circumstances. The plaintiffs themselves characterize the relationship between insurer and insured as “quasi-fiduciary” in nature. The only question before us is whether the fiduciary aspects of the relationship compel the insurer, when it denies a claim on grounds of no coverage, to explain to the insured the reasons it might be wrong. I am convinced that the reasoning of Neff v. New York Life Ins. Co. (1947) 30 Cal.2d 165 [180 P.2d 900, 171 A.L.R. 563] remains good law and has not been undercut by more recent cases explicating the fiduciary components of the insurer-insured relationship.
*1154The majority’s academic excursion appears to be motivated by a concern that courts in future cases will be seduced by the term “fiduciary” and impose unwarranted liability on insurers. I see little danger of such confusion. Rather, I fear that the rigid compartmentalization and convenient labeling suggested by the opinion may serve as a substitute for thoughtful analysis of whether the circumstances of a particular case justify the imposition of enhanced duties on the insurer. Accordingly, I cannot join the majority’s extended and unnecessary exegesis.
Appellants’ petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied September 13, 1990. Mosk, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.