In City of Huntington Beach v. Petersen Law Firm (2002) 95 Cal.App.4th 562, citizens sued the city and several of its police officers for assault, battery, and civil rights violations. The city did not refuse to defend the officers. It defended them in court and offered to continue defending them, but the city insisted on using legal counsel of its choosing. ( Id. at p. 567.) The officers insisted on retaining separate counsel because of potential conflicts of interest between them and the city. (Ibid.) The court held that regardless of whether the conflicts were actual, or merely potential, "a public entity has no obligation to provide that employee with a separate defense." (Ibid., ) The court observed in City of Huntington Beach that Government Code section 995 establishes the state's duty to defend a public employee against a third-party civil action. The court also pointed out the state may satisfy its duty to defend by employing independent counsel under Government Code section 996. But the state's duty to defend is not unlimited, the court reasoned. The state has no duty to defend its employee if the employee's act or omission falls outside the scope of his or her employment. (Gov. Code, 995.2, subd. (a)(1).) There is no duty to defend the employee against actions arising from the employee's actual fraud, corruption, or malice. (Gov. Code, 995.2, subd. (a)(2).) And there is no duty to defend the employee if "the defense of the action or proceeding by the public entity would create a specific conflict of interest between the public entity and the employee or former employee." (Gov. Code 995.2, subd. (a)(3).) Finally, of course, there is no duty to defend if the state itself has brought the action against its employee. (Gov. Code, 995.4; City of Huntington Beach v. Petersen Law Firm, supra, 95 Cal.App.4th at p. 566.) The court concluded that the liability of public entities is entirely determined by statute. And under the California Government Code, "a public entity has no obligation to provide that employee with a separate defense. ( Id. at p. 567.)