What is the effect of the 9th Circuit's decision to grant declaratory judgment to an insurer in a case already pending in a state court?

The effect of today's decision is to forever disable the district courts of this circuit from exercising their discretion to entertain declaratory judgment actions brought by insurers in cases already pending in state courts. That result is particularly unfortunate because it could have been avoided had the majority not been so anxious to take the initial determination of jurisdiction out of the hands of the district court where, in my view, it belongs. I would have remanded the case to the district court with instructions to reconsider the matter in light of Chamberlain v. Allstate Co., 931 F.2d 1361 (9th Cir.1991). But the majority prefers to conduct that review itself. Because I disagree with that action, as well as with the analysis that is its product, I dissent.