Judge: William A. Crowfoot, Case: 25NNCV02429, Date: 2025-06-11 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 25NNCV02429    Hearing Date: June 11, 2025    Dept: 3

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - NORTHEAST DISTRICT

          On April 18, 2025, respondent State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (“State Farm”) filed this motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute pursuant to Insurance Code section 11580.2(i) which provides as follows:

California Insurance Code 11580.2.(i) provides as follows:

(1) No cause of action shall accrue to the insured under any policy or endorsement provision issued pursuant to this section unless one of the following actions have been taken within two years from the date of the accident:

(A) Suit for bodily injury has been filed against the uninsured motorist, in a court of competent jurisdiction.

(B) Agreement as to the amount due under the policy has been concluded.

(C) The insured has formally instituted arbitration proceedings by notifying the insurer in writing sent by certified mail, return receipt requested. Notice shall be sent to the insurer or to the agent for process designated by the insurer filed with the department.

(2) Any arbitration instituted pursuant to this section shall be concluded either:

(A) Within five years from the institution of the arbitration proceeding.

(3) The doctrines of estoppel, waiver, impossibility, impracticality, and futility apply to excuse a party’s noncompliance with the statutory timeframe, as determined by the court.

          State Farm argues that its insureds, claimants Tigran Ekizlaryan, Sargis Khachatryan, Tigran Tovmasyan, and Syuzanna Keshishyan (“Claimants”) served a demand for arbitration on May 22, 2019, and failed to bring this matter to arbitration within 5 years, by May 22, 2024.

          On June 6, 2025, Claimants filed an opposition brief arguing that the matter was not brought to arbitration within five years because from February 19, 2020, to January 12, 2024, State Farm brought a declaratory relief action (“DRA”), contending that no coverage obligation existed and that arbitration was inappropriate. Since State Farm argued that arbitration was premature, the duration of the DRA (1423 days) should be excluded from any computation of the applicable five-year period. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 583.340.) Therefore, although 2211 days have passed since Claimants served their arbitration demand, the five-year period has not yet expired since the DRA tolled the calculation of the five-year period.

          State Farm’s motion is DENIED.

Dated this 11th day of June 2025

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the Court at ALHDEPT3@lacourt.org indicating intention to submit on the tentative as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org. Please be advised that if you submit on the tentative and elect not to appear at the hearing, the opposing party may nevertheless appear at the hearing and argue the matter. Unless you receive a submission from all other parties in the matter, you should assume that others might appear at the hearing to argue. If the Court does not receive emails from the parties indicating submission on this tentative ruling and there are no appearances at the hearing, the Court may, at its discretion, adopt the tentative as the final order or place the motion off calendar.