Lutge v. Dubuque Fire & Marine Insurance
Lutge v. Dubuque Fire & Marine Insurance
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment rendered against it in a suit to recover upon an insurance policy issued by defendant company covering loss by fire. The facts of the case are briefly these: The plaintiff was the owner of a building in San Francisco which was insured against fire by defendant. The policy had been in force for some years. The fire which caused the loss upon which suit is brought occurred on August 7, 1915. Prior to that time, to wit, on July 10, 1915, a small fire on the premises had occurred. The insurance company settled the claim therefor by paying the plaintiff $18, and it is claimed by the defendant that upon mating this payment the policy was canceled by attaching to the draft sent to plaintiff a receipt which contained the statement, just above where plaintiff placed his signature, “Said policy is hereby surrendered for cancellation,” and that Lutge by signing the receipt containing this statement consented to the cancellation of the policy. This is the one issue between the parties, and the appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to justify the implied finding of the jury that the policy had not been canceled prior to the loss, and, further, that the trial court abused its discretion in denying to the defendant a new trial.
Appellant’s argument upon the weight of the evidence has much force, but it is one that should properly be addressed to a jury.
The only other point made by appellant is that the motion of the defendant for a new trial should have been granted. The affidavits filed upon the motion are all to the effect that the printed receipt had been altered and the words “surrendered for cancellation” made a part thereof before it was signed by the plaintiff. The statements in the affidavits con
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stituted material and valuable evidence for the defendant, but such evidence was merely cumulative and it should have been produced upon the trial. Defendant did produce evidence upon this very question in the testimony of the clerk of the defendant company who prepared the draft, in the testimony of the general manager who signed it, and in the testimony of the broker who delivered it to the plaintiff. Defendant, therefore, anticipated that this would be an issue in the ease, and, after the decision has been adverse to it, it may not retry the case in order to produce other and perhaps stronger evidence upon a question which was contested at the trial, when such evidence was available to the defendant at the time of the trial.
The judgment is affirmed.
Brittain, J., and Haven, J., concurred.
A petition to have the cause heard in the supreme court, after judgment in the district court, was denied by the supreme court on June 12,1919.
All the Justices concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- RICHARD LUTGE, Respondent, v. DUBUQUE FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE CO., Appellant
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published