Monday, August 06, 2007

Frontier Oil Corp. v. RLI Ins. Co. (Cal. Ct. App. - Aug. 6, 2007)

Conflicts. Conflicts of laws. The most exciting type of conflict. Made even more exciting when it's about the law to be applied in the interpretation of a contract.

Justice Crosky writes a nice little -- okay, at 44 pages, so, not-so-little -- opinion about what law one uses when you're interpreting a contract. You know the drill: is it where the contract's made, where it will be performed, or where the highest amount of government contacts/interests exist. Here, in the context of a particular insurance policy, Justice Crosky holds that it's where the contract -- in particular, the duty to defend -- will be performed.

And so, as a surprise to no one, guess which law the California Court of Appeal ends up applying? If it's not obvious, I'll give you another hint. The California Court of Appeal.

You guessed it.