Catholic Mutual Relief Society v. Superior Court

*363Opinion

BAXTER, J.

INTRODUCTION

In this case we must determine whether Code of Civil Procedure section 2017.210,1 the statutory provision authorizing limited discovery of a defendant’s insurance coverage information, authorizes pretrial discovery of a nonparty liability insurer’s reinsurance agreements for purposes of facilitating settlement of an underlying tort action. We conclude that it does not.

As will further be explained, there may be unusual circumstances in which a reinsurance agreement is functioning in the same way as a liability policy (“fronting” arrangement), or where the…