{"id":906013,"date":"2026-08-18T16:08:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T22:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=906013"},"modified":"2026-08-18T16:09:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T22:09:39","slug":"notice-claims-california-clarifies-pro-policyholder-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/notice-claims-california-clarifies-pro-policyholder-ruling\/","title":{"rendered":"California Supreme Court Clarifies Pleading Standards for Excess Policy Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Scott Seaman | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hinshawlaw.com\/en\/insights\/in-the-news\/hinshaws-larry-golub-discusses-significance-of-california-supreme-courts-pro-policyholder-ruling-involving-late-notice-claims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Hinshaw &amp; Culbertson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hinshaw partner Larry Golub recently discussed the California Supreme Court\u2019s ruling in&nbsp;<em>Pitzer College v. Indian Harbor Insurance Co.<\/em>&nbsp;with Judy Greenwald of&nbsp;<em>Business Insurance<\/em>. The questions to be determined by the California Supreme Court were (1) whether California\u2019s notice-prejudice law is a fundamental policy, and (2) whether that policy overrides the consent provision in the insurance policy at issue. The Ninth Circuit had referred the questions to the court in an insurance coverage case, in which the policyholder had not provided notice \u201cas soon as practicable\u201d for legal and environmental remediation expenses. The insurer sought to deny coverage due to the late notice and the policyholder\u2019s failure to obtain consent before beginning remediation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The California Supreme Court held that the state\u2019s notice-prejudice rule\u2014under which California policyholders can proceed with their claims despite late notice, unless the insurer can prove substantial prejudice\u2014was a fundamental policy that \u201cprotects insureds against inequitable results that are generated by insurers\u2019 superior bargaining power.\u201d The court also held that the notice-prejudice rule is applicable to the consent provision, but only applicable to first-party coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Golub said the court\u2019s decision \u201cclearly favors\u201d policyholders, adding that \u201cthe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/california-concludes-notice-prejudice-rule-applies-to-consent-clauses\/\">notice-prejudice<\/a> rule is a tough hurdle for insurance companies to meet in those cases it applies.\u201d He anticipated the Ninth Circuit would now apply the advice it received from the California Supreme Court to the issues before it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCalifornia Supreme Court rules late notice no bar to insurance claims,\u201d was published by\u00a0<em>Business Insurance<\/em>\u00a0on August 30, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 801.641.8304, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scott Seaman | Hinshaw &amp; Culbertson Hinshaw partner Larry Golub recently discussed the California Supreme Court\u2019s ruling in&nbsp;Pitzer College v. Indian Harbor Insurance Co.&nbsp;with Judy Greenwald of&nbsp;Business Insurance. The questions to be determined by the California Supreme Court were (1) whether California\u2019s notice-prejudice law is a fundamental policy, and (2) whether that policy overrides the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/notice-claims-california-clarifies-pro-policyholder-ruling\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">California Supreme Court Clarifies Pleading Standards for Excess Policy Claims<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10721],"tags":[9895,88,10395],"class_list":["post-906013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance","tag-advise-consult","tag-california","tag-notice-of-a-claim","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>California Supreme Court Clarifies Pleading Standards for Excess Policy Claims - Advise &amp; 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