JEFFREY M. JONES and SHANNON B. JONES, TRUSTEES OF THE JEFFREY & SHANNON JONES TRUST v. State Farm General Insurance Company

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NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JEFFREY M. JONES and SHANNON B.
JONES, TRUSTEES OF THE JEFFREY &
SHANNON JONES TRUST,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
STATE FARM GENERAL INSURANCE
COMPANY,
Defendant-Appellee.
No. 22-15285
D.C. No. 4:21–cv–04172–DMR
MEMORANDUM
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of California
Donna M. Ryu, Magistrate Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted November 14, 2022
San Francisco, California
Before: McKEOWN and PAEZ, Circuit Judges, and MOLLOY,** District Judge.
In 2017, landslides on property insured by State Farm General Insurance
Company damaged the neighboring property, owned by Jeffrey and Shannon
 This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
** The Honorable Donald W. Molloy, United States District Judge for the
District of Montana, sitting by designation.
FILED
NOV 22 2022
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

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Jones. The Joneses sued State Farm, not under any provision of the State Farm
policy, but alleging that State Farm was directly liable for nuisance, trespass, and
negligence based on its post-slide management of the site. The district court
dismissed the Joneses’ complaint, finding that the Joneses failed to state a claim
against State Farm because they alleged no affirmative action that fell outside “the
scope of behavior which may be reasonably expected of insurers.” Teague v.
Home Ins. Co., 168 Cal. App. 3d 1148, 1153 (1985). We have jurisdiction under
28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we reverse. Construing as true the Joneses’ allegation that
State Farm voluntarily controlled and tortiously managed the landslide site, Teague
does not foreclose the Joneses’ direct liability claims at this stage of the
proceedings.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.

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