By Kurt Melchior and Joan Cotkin ( March 15, 2018, 4:07 PM EDT) -- For much of the second half of the twentieth century California led the nation in developing and solidifying the concept that insurance was an important social instrument which spread the costs of our industrial society across the general population through its broad construction of terms that are in common usage in insurance contracts. But starting just before the turn of the century, California's insurance policy interpretations became narrower and less generous. Claimants found less coverage available for their injuries and alleged tortfeasors found themselves abandoned, not just by their insurers but also by the appellate courts. Now the worm may have turned: the California Supreme Court is hearing two insurance coverage cases that raise similar issues in very different contexts and may restore some of the liberal policy interpretations which helped California to become the great society it is....