An insurer is not liable for a loss caused by the wilful act of the insured; but he is not exonerated by the negligence of the insured, or of the insured’s agents or others.
Cal. Ins. Code § 533
Causes of Loss
Applied in 168 court decisions — leading case 11 Cal. 4th 1 - Waller v. Truck Insurance Exchange, Inc. (1995)
Most recently applied in MRFranchise, Inc. & Mike Rafipoor v. P Stratford Insurance Company (November 2024)
Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.