Safeco Insurance Co. of America v. Superior Court

Opinion

STEVENS, J.

— The question before us in this writ proceeding is whether petitioner, Safeco Insurance Company of America (Safeco), is obligated to pay a stipulated judgment entered into by its insureds without Safeco’s consent when Safeco had undertaken a defense of the liability action. We conclude that Safeco is not bound by the stipulated judgment, and we grant Safeco’s petition for a writ of mandate to compel the trial court to grant its motion for summary judgment.

I. Background

The underlying action was a wrongful death action brought by the McKinney family, real parties in interest,…