Montrose Chemical Corp. v. Superior Court

Real parties in interest are insurers that issued excess comprehensive general liability (CGL) policies to Montrose, a manufacturer of the pesticide DDT. Montrose filed suit seeking a declaratory judgment that it may electively stack excess policies. The trial court rejected the elective stacking in favor of horizontal exhaustion, and denied Montrose's motion for summary adjudication, granting the excess insurers' cross-motion for summary adjudication. The Court of Appeal granted the petition for writ of mandate in part and denied in part, holding that the trial court correctly rejected Montrose's elective stacking approach and thus correctly denied Montrose's motion for summary adjudication and granted Continental Insurer's cross motion. The court also held that the record did not support a universal horizontal exhaustion approach. Therefore, the trial court erred in granting the insurers' motion on the issue of duty. View "Montrose Chemical Corp. v. Superior Court" on Justia Law