Allstate Insurance v. Brannon

I respectfully dissent from Division 1 and from the judgment of reversal as it is my view that the plaintiff in this declaratory judgment action, Allstate Insurance Company, (“Allstate”), was not harmed by the erroneous giving of an inapplicable jury instruction on construction of the insurance contract. This erroneous charge did not effectively direct the verdict against Allstate. Consequently, the special interrogatories insulated Allstate against the likely harm occasioned by the trial court’s inapplicable instruction. It follows that such harmless error does not require a new trial. I…