California Court of Appeal Revisits the Anti-Stacking Rule
On January 5, 2009, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District issued its latest decision in the Stringfellow coverage dispute. The court held that absent an "anti-stacking" provision in an insurance policy, standard policy language allows insureds to stack policy limits across different policy periods. The Stringfellow Court expressly rejected the Sixth District's 1998 holding in FMC v. Plaisted & Cos., which stated that policyholders could not stack policy limits. The Stringfellow decision calls into question the correct allocation rule in California. Whether a policyholder may stack the applicable policy limits can significantly affect the amount of the policyholder’s eventual recovery.