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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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE

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THE HANOVER INSURANCE
COMPANY,
Plaintiff,

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v.

C16-1671 TSZ
MINUTE ORDER

CRISTINA MEHLING, et al.,
Defendants.

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The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable
Thomas S. Zilly, United States District Judge:

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(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).

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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.
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(3)
The oral argument scheduled for Friday, May 12, 2017, at 10:00 a.m., is
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(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.

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William M. McCool
Clerk

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s/Karen Dews
Deputy Clerk

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MINUTE ORDER - 2