State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Von Der Lieth

Opinion

LUCAS, C. J.

We granted review in this case to resolve a conflict in the Courts of Appeal concerning whether courts should distinguish between types of negligence when analyzing coverage in the first party homeowners property insurance context. (See Garvey v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (1989) 48 Cal.3d 395, 408-409, fn. 7 [257 Cal.Rptr. 292, 770 P.2d 704] (Garvey).) This conflict arises from different interpretations of our observation in Garvey suggesting a property insurer may deny coverage when homeowners construct improvements on the insured premises in order to protect the…