Cross-Complaint Against a Lawyer Who Represented In An Exchange Transaction

In Commercial Standard Title Co. v. Superior Court (1979) 92 Cal. App. 3d 934 155 Cal. Rptr. 393, the plaintiff sued two title insurance companies, alleging a negligent issuance of the lot book guarantee on which the plaintiff had relied when he entered an agreement for the exchange of real property. The title companies cross-complained against the attorney who had represented the plaintiff in the exchange transaction, alleging a right to indemnity. Division One of the Fourth District rejected a claim that the decision in American Motorcycle Assn. v. Superior Court (1978) 20 Cal. 3d 578 146 Cal. Rptr. 182, 578 P.2d 899, compelled a different result than the one we had reached in Held v. Arant, 67 Cal. App. 3d 748, concluding that American Motorcycle did not "purport to make a rule for all seasons." (Commercial Standard Title Co. v. Superior Court, supra, 92 Cal. App. 3d at p. 940.)