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Catholic Mutual Relief Society v. Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles4/25/2005
olicy does not meet this standard. (Wegner v. Cliff Viessman, Inc. (N.D. Iowa 1994) 153 F.R.D. 154, 160-161 (Wegner) [former rule 26(b)(2) was added to permit discovery of the existence and contents of a defendant's liability policies because that information was not considered relevant for discovery purposes but was deemed useful in allowing counsel to realistically appraise the case and select both settlement and trial strategy]; Pettie, supra, 178 Cal.App.2d at p. 690; Evid. Code, ยง 1155.) Because of these strong policy considerations, explicit statutory authorization was warranted in order to make the information discoverable. If that information is not relevant under general relevancy principles, it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine how the broader class of financial information sought from petitioners might possibly be discoverable under section 2017(a).
Combined with their other arguments concerning the "existence and extent" of insurance coverage as discussed in Pettie, supra, 178 Cal.App.2d 680, plaintiffs appear to contend that a wide-ranging inquiry into the financial health of a defendant's insurer is proper because that information will permit them to determine if the insurer can meet its coverage obligations. That information, according to plaintiffs, will facilitate settlement and is therefore discoverable. (See Garamendi v. Golden Eagle Ins. Co. (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 694, 712, fn. 8 [information is discoverable if it might facilitate settlement.) We do not believe that the discovery purpose of facilitating settlements can be read as broadly as plaintiffs contend.
When considering the purposes of discovery statutes, the seminal case is Greyhound Corp. v. Superior Court (1961) 56 Cal.2d 355 (Greyhound). (Calcor Space Facility, Inc. v. Superior Court (1997) 53 Cal.App.4th 216, 224-225.) According to the Greyhound court, one purpose of the discovery statutes is to "educate the parties in advance of trial as to the real value of their claims and defenses, thereby encouraging settlements . . . ." (Greyhound, supra, at p. 376.) That language was recently endorsed by our Supreme Court in Emerson Electric Co. v. Superior Court (1997) 16 Cal.4th 1101, 1107. Other courts and some commentators have apparently chosen to shorthand Greyhound's holding, stating that one purpose of discovery was to "facilitate settlements," but without mention of Greyhound's qualifying language concerning educating the parties about their claims and defenses in order to encourage settlement. (See Glenfed Development Corp. v. Superior Court (1997) 53 Cal.App.4th 1113, 1117; Lipton v. Superior Court (1996) 48 Cal.App.4th 1599, 1611-1612 (Lipton); Weil & Brown, Cal. Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trial (The Rutter Group 2004) 8:66.1, p. 8C-1.) Other courts interpreting discovery statutes similar to ours have rejected attempts to discover the financial condition of a defendant's liability insurer in order to facilitate settlement.
At issue in Dana, supra, 138 S.W.3d 298, was the discoverability of information from a defendant's insurer concerning whether the insurer's coverage had been eroded by other claims. At plaintiffs' request, the trial court ordered the deposition of an insurance company employee who could testify about the amount of insurance remaining under defendant's policies. The court first held that the information was not covered by the Texas discovery rule that permitted discovery of the existence and contents of a defendant's liability policies. Instead, its discoverability turned on the relevancy principles governing discoverability in general. (Id. at pp. 302-303.) In its relevancy discussion, the Dana court cited various federal decisions which either allowed or
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