Calif. high court eases path for suits against excess insurersThe California Supreme Court has ruled that policyholders don’t need to prove their underlying insurance has been fully paid out before they can sue excess insurers for bad faith or a ruling on a policy, handing a win to a private equity firm locked in a coverage fight with three insurers. Fox Paine & Co., LLC v. Twin City Fire Insurance Co., issued Monday, reverses a California Court of Appeal ruling that had dismissed claims against two of three excess insurers named in the suit. Woodside, California-based Fox Paine & Co. sued three insurers over a $50 million tower of excess coverage. Fox Paine alleged the insurers let its former rivals collect payouts under a shared insurance program while leaving Fox Paine uncompensated. “An actual controversy over insurance coverage may exist even when coverage depends on the satisfaction of a future contingency or contingencies,” she wrote.