In Grissom v. Vons Companies, Inc. (1991) 1 Cal.App.4th 52, a truck driver who was injured in an accident sued the individuals he contended were responsible, and he also filed a workers' compensation claim against his employer (Vons). (Grissom v. Vons Companies, Inc., supra, 1 Cal.App.4th at p. 56.) The individuals filed a cross-complaint against the truck driver, claiming he was responsible for their injuries. (Ibid.) The truck driver demanded that Vons defend him against the cross-complaint, and Vons hired a law firm to do so. (Ibid.) When the truck driver discovered that the firm representing him was also representing Vons with respect to his workers' compensation claim, he fired the firm and demanded that Vons provide him with independent counsel. (Ibid.) V ons refused, so the truck driver sued Vons, seeking a declaration that Vons was required to provide him with another attorney. (Ibid.) Vons demurred, and the trial court sustained the demurrer without leave to amend. (Ibid.) The appellate court concluded the trial court erred in sustaining the demurrer because the truck driver might be able to state a cause of action for indemnity against Vons under section 2802. (Grissom v. Vons Companies, Inc., supra, 1 Cal.App.4th at pp. 56, 59.) The court explained that while section 2802 does not impose on an employer the duty to provide a defense to an employee, the statute does give the employee the right to indemnity for necessary expenditures, and such expenditures may include the cost of independent counsel. As the Grissom court explained: "just because an employer selects and pays for an attorney to defend an employee does not mean that the employee might not find it reasonably necessary to select and hire additional counsel. Counsel selected by the employer may be incompetent, or, as the initial law firm selected by the employer in this case, possibly caught in a conflict of interest between the employer and the employee. Additionally, the sheer press of time may make it 'necessary' for an employee to select and hire his or her own counsel. If an employer dithers on an employee's request for counsel while time to respond to a complaint or some discovery request is running out, the employee is practically forced to go out and hire an attorney to take the appropriate action--even if the employer later decides to provide counsel free of charge. "Necessity is by nature a question of fact. ... Accordingly, ascertaining what was a necessary expenditure will require an inquiry into what was reasonable under the circumstances. While we can imagine some factors which have an obvious bearing on whether legal expenses incurred by an employee are necessary, the reasonableness of any given expenditure must turn on its own facts." (Grissom v. Vons Companies, Inc., supra, 1 Cal.App.4th at p. 58.) The factors the Grissom court identified as relevant to the determination of necessity were the following: "whether the employer has already agreed to provide counsel," "the competency and experience of counsel provided by the employer," "any time constraints requiring the employee to take unilateral action in selecting and hiring counsel," "the complexity and difficulty of the litigation against the employee in relation to the ability and capacity of the employer-provided counsel," "whether there are any conflicts between the employer and the employee," "the past history of the relationship between the employer and the employee," and "the nature of any problems arising in the attorney-client relationship and the reasons behind those problems." (Id. at pp. 58-59, fn. 4.)