Gafcon

Gafcon, Inc. (Gafcon) sued its liability insurer Travelers Property Casualty Corporation (Travelers), Travelers' in-house law firm Ponsor & Associates, and Ponsor lawyer Roger von Kaesborg (collectively Ponsor) seeking, among other relief, a judicial declaration that (1) Travelers' use of employee attorneys to defend its insureds constitutes the unauthorized practice of law; (2) insurance companies in general improperly exercise control over their employee attorneys so as to interfere with their independence and professional judgment in representing insureds; (3) Travelers in the present case operated under a conflict requiring it to pay for independent Cumis *fn1 counsel; and (4) insurance companies derive an illegal profit from use of in-house counsel in representing insureds. Travelers and Ponsor moved for summary judgment; the court granted the motions.