Salas v. Salas
Shaun Salas was involved in an automobile accident, while driving a vehicle owned by his father, Gilbert Salas. (To avoid confusion, we will refer to the members of the Salas family by their first names; we intend no disrespect.) Shaun's automobile insurance carrier, Mercury Insurance Company (Mercury), denied coverage for the accident on the ground Gilbert's car was not covered under the terms of the policy. Shaun sued for tortious breach of the insurance policy. The trial court granted a motion for summary adjudication in favor of Mercury of Shaun's bad faith claim. Following a bench trial, the court found Mercury had breached the insurance contract, and awarded damages to Shaun and Gilbert. Shaun appealed, and Mercury cross‑appealed.
We conclude the trial court did not err in granting the motion for summary adjudication. Because Shaun's two claims--breach of contract and bad faith--were combined in one cause of action, the court could properly grant summary adjudication of the bad faith claim. A genuine dispute as to coverage was established by Mercury, and the court properly determined Shaun could not state a claim for bad faith on the part of Mercury.
We further conclude the trial court did not err by denying Shaun's motion to amend the complaint to add the bad faith claim back into the complaint immediately before trial.
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