LA Checker Cab Cooperative, Inc v. First Specialty Insurance Company (Insurance)

Filed June 14, 2010, publication ordered July 13, 2010
Second District Court of Appeal, Division One
Cite as B213948

Court Affirms Judgment in Employer’s Breach of Contract Action and Declaratory Relief

The case stemmed from an incident involving Alexander Terminassian, a taxi cab driver employed by LA Checker Cab Cooperative (Checker) and his would-be passenger, Marco Cifuentes.

Court records showed that the dispute occurred one evening when Cifuentes tried to board the taxi driven by Terminassian. In his deposition, Cifuentes stated that Terminassian refused to accept him as a passenger because he was drunk and he ordered him out of the cab.

Terminassian however said that when he told Cifuentes to leave, Cifuentes allegedly became violent and threatened to harm him.

Terminassian also stated that he warned Cifuentes that he was armed. When Cifuentes continued to become unruly, he took out the gun from his pocket and showed it, “to make sure that Cifuentes understands that it’s not a toy gun”.

Consequently, Cifuentes got out of the cab, open the driver’s side door and tried to pull Terminassian out of the door. Terminassian said he fired one shot at Cifuentes and later testified that he shot Cifuentes because he sensed danger to his life.

In his deposition, Cifuentes admitted that he spat on the window divider, and cursed the driver but denied hitting or threatening Terminassian. Cifuentes charged that Terminassian shot him without provocation.

As a result, Cifuentes filed a lawsuit against Terminassian and his employer, LA Checker Cab Cooperative for assault and battery, and against the company for negligent supervision of Terminassian.

Checker asked defense against the lawsuit to its insurer, First Specialty Insurance Corporation.

The insurer, however, refused to defend or indemnify Checker on the ground that the incident involving Terminassian and Cifuentes was not covered by Checker’s policy.

Following this, Checker filed a cross-complaint against First Specialty for breach of contract and declaratory relief while First Specialty also filed against Checker for declaratory relief.

After hearing, the trial court granted First Specialty’s motion for summary judgment and entered judgment in its favor.

Checker appealed the decision.