The Chicago Tribune reported earlier this month that Los Angeles Lakers legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson has entered the insurance world. Magic is becoming a controlling shareholder in EquiTrust Life Insurance Co., which distributes fixed-rate and indexed annuities and life insurance through a national network of more than 14,500 independent agents.

The Tribune reported that the company is opening new offices in Illinois that will create 200 jobs in the coming year and could employ hundreds more in years to come. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn stated that he was excited to have Magic become a corporate citizen of the state.

Of course, Magic’s entry into the insurance world is nothing new for a Lakers legend. As readers of Coverage Opinions well know, long-time Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss was the man behind the California Supreme Court’s 1997 decision in Buss v. Transamerica Ins. Co. In general terms, California’s top court held in Buss that, in a so-called “mixed” action, in which some claims are potentially covered and others are not – thereby triggering a duty to defend the action in its entirety – an insurer may seek reimbursement of defense costs for claims that are not potentially covered. Also in general terms, as a practical matter, the Buss rule can be difficult to apply. The Buss court itself noted that the task of allocating defense costs solely to claims that are not even potentially covered is at best extremely difficult and may never be feasible. Buss gave rise to many other states addressing whether an insurer can obtain reimbursement of defense costs following a determination that it had no duty to defend. Courts nationally are generally split on the issue.

In February 2013 Jerry Buss passed away at age 80. Not one tribute or obituary that I read mentioned his California Supreme Court case. I brought this omission to the attention of Bill Dwyre, former Sports Editor for 25 years, and now columnist, for The Los Angeles Times. Dwyre himself wrote a wonderful tribute to Buss. He indicated that he passed my concern along to the business columnist folks. But nothing ever came of it. I couldn’t let Jerry Buss’s contribution to the world of insurance coverage go unnoticed. I wrote his “insurance obituary” in the February 27 issue of Coverage Opinions.

I reached out to Magic, through Magic Johnson Enterprises, and asked him if he was aware that, by taking a stake in EquiTrust Life, he was following in the footsteps of his former boss and continuing the Lakers’s tradition of playing a part in the insurance world. Unfortunately, he did not respond – perhaps because he had no clue whatsoever what I was talking about. Jerry Buss lost his famous case before the California Supreme Court. Hopefully for Magic his investment in EquiTrust Life won’t serve as the basis for his return to any courts.