Is there a cause of action for civil conspiracy?

A cause of action for civil conspiracy may not arise, however, if the alleged conspirator, though a participant in the agreement underlying the injury, was not personally bound by the duty violated by the wrongdoing and was acting only as the agent or employee of the party who did have that duty. Thus, in Gruenberg v. Aetna Ins. Co., supra, 9 Cal.3d 566, 108 Cal.Rptr. 480, 510 P.2d 1032, the plaintiff alleged that his insurers and their adjusters and attorneys had conspired to deny him benefits for an insured fire loss and in furtherance of the conspiracy had (1) encouraged criminal charges by falsely implying to an official investigator and at a preliminary hearing that the plaintiff had a motive to commit arson, (2) used the plaintiff's failure to appear for examination under oath before the insurers' representative (see 2070, 2071) as a pretext for denying liability under the policies even though they knew the plaintiff would not appear during the pendency of the criminal charges, and (3) refused to accept the plaintiff's offer to appear for examination after the charges were dropped. We held that these allegations stated a cause of [49 Cal.3d 45] action against the defendant insurers for breach of their implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by refusing, without proper cause, to compensate the plaintiff for a fire loss covered by their insurance policies. (9 Cal.3d at pp. 570-575, 108 Cal.Rptr. 480, 510 P.2d 1032.)