Western Heritage Ins Co. v. Frances Todd Inc - lease only required liability insurance which did not cover fire: “Plaintiff and appellant Western Heritage Insurance Company (Western Heritage) appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of defendants and respondents Frances Todd, Inc. dba The Wooden Duck, Eric Todd Gellerman and Amy Francis Ferber (collectively, "defendants"). ( Code Civ. Proc., 437c.) Western Heritage contends the trial court erred in concluding it was barred from bringing a subrogation claim for amounts it paid out under an insurance policy for fire damage. We affirm. Like the trial court, we conclude that defendants reasonably expected their landlord, an insured under the policy, to procure fire insurance. Because Western Heritage was barred from suing its own insured for negligently causing a fire, and because the defendants were implied insureds under the policy, Western Heritage could not sue them in subrogation, even if we assume defendants were negligent.”
https://casetext.com/case/w-heritage...ances-todd-inc
California prohibits a subrogation action by the fire insurance company of a lessor against a lessee where a lessee’s negligence causes a fire, but the policy is intended to benefit the lessee. In such cases, the lessee is treated as an insured, despite the lessee not being a named insured on the policy. Because the insurance company could not seek subrogation against its own named insured (the lessor), it cannot seek subrogation against the lessee. Western Heritage Ins. Co. v. Frances Todd, Inc., 2019 WL 1011104 (Cal. App. 2019). This comes into play via the doctrine of superior equities, which prevents an insurer from recovering against a party whose equities are equal or superior to those of the insurer. State Farm Gen. Ins. Co. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 49 Cal. Rptr.3d 785 (Cal. App. 2006).
https://www.mwl-law.com/wp-content/u...9637x9EBBF.pdf