The Hanover Insurance Company v. Mehling et al

Filing 31

MINUTE ORDER denying in part and deferring in part plaintiff's 15 motion for judgment on the pleadings; granting the deferred portion of the Mehling defendants' 18 Motion to Stay; JSR due within 14 days after underlying litigation in King County Superior Court is completed or by 1/15/18; oral argument set for 5/12/17 at 10am is stricken by Judge Thomas S. Zilly.(RS)

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1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 6 7 8 THE HANOVER INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, 9 10 11 v. C16-1671 TSZ MINUTE ORDER CRISTINA MEHLING, et al., Defendants. 12 13 The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable Thomas S. Zilly, United States District Judge: 14 (1) Plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, docket no. 15, is DENIED in part as to the duty to defend and DEFERRED in part as to any duty of indemnification. With regard to The Hanover Insurance Company’s duty to defend Christina Mehling and the Mehling Law Firm PLLC (collectively, “Mehling Defendants”) in the action brought in King County Superior Court by Virginia L. Burdette in her capacity as the Chapter 7 Trustee for the Andrew Kim Bankruptcy Estate, the Court is persuaded that issues of material fact preclude judgment as a matter of law on the pleadings. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c); see also Gen’l Conference Corp. of Seventh-Day Adventists v. Seventh-Day Adventist Congregational Church, 887 F.2d 228, 230 (9th Cir. 1989). The allegations and claims asserted by Burdette, see Ex. A to Compl. (docket no. 1-2), are broader than the matters about which Mehling might have had notice in 2013, before the “inception” date of the policy at issue, see Exs. C, D, E, G, & H to Compl. (docket nos. 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 1-8, & 1-9), and thus, whether the policy “conceivably covers” the assertions in the underlying complaint, as liberally construed, is at least a question of fact. See Am. Best Food, Inc. v. Alea London, Ltd., 168 Wn.2d 398, 404-05, 229 P.3d 693 (2010); see also Expedia, Inc. v. Steadfast Ins. Co., 180 Wn.2d 793, 802, 329 P.3d 59 (2014). 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 MINUTE ORDER - 1 (2) The deferred portion of the Mehling Defendants’ motion to stay, docket no. 18, is GRANTED, and this case is hereby STAYED pending resolution of the 2 underlying litigation between Burdette and the Mehling Defendants. The parties shall provide a Joint Status Report within fourteen (14) days after the underlying litigation in 3 King County Superior Court is completed or by January 15, 2018, whichever occurs earlier. 4 (3) The oral argument scheduled for Friday, May 12, 2017, at 10:00 a.m., is 5 STRICKEN. 1 6 7 (4) record. The Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Minute Order to all counsel of Dated this 8th day of May, 2017. 8 William M. McCool Clerk 9 10 s/Karen Dews Deputy Clerk 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 MINUTE ORDER - 2

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