Twin City Fire Insurance v. Rudolph

The issue before us on this Petition for Writ of Mandamus is whether the trial judge can refuse, when considering an action for declaratory judgment, to determine the insurer’s duty to indemnify when such decision is critical to the insurer’s duty to defend. The trial judge stated:

I’m not sure how [language of the policy] fits in there. I, but certainly on the face of it does not exclude coverage, the duty to defend. And it doesn’t — at this point that’s all I would be willing to say, because I don’t think I really need to, I don’t think I really need to say whether [Twin City] is responsible…