Gordon & Rees partner Asim Desai and senior counsel Margaret Drugan won a summary judgment on behalf of their client, a trucking insurance company, in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Plaintiffs sued the Defendant insurers for breach of contract, bad faith, fraud and negligence arising out of Defendants’ denial of the insureds’ claim for the alleged theft of two coach buses from a banquet hall lot in Van Nuys, California. The buses were later recovered in a remote unincorporated area of Los Angeles County while being dismantled in a chop shop operation. Defendants had denied the insureds’ claim based on the numerous material misrepresentations made by the insureds in their Examinations Under Oath, in their documents submitted in support of the claim and as well as in the policy application.
Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment was based on the undisputed facts that the insureds made material misrepresentations about the location of the buses at the time of the loss, the number of keys to the buses, the insureds’ financial position at the time of the loss and the insureds’ statements on the policy application about the type of business it was involved in and whether the insureds were involved with other related businesses.
Based on the undisputed evidence put forward by Defendants in support of their motion, the Court concluded that there were no triable issues of fact as to any of the causes of action and therefore, it granted summary judgment.