California Supreme Court, 1894

Stewart v. Helvetia Swiss Fire Ins. Co.

California Supreme Court · Decided March 30, 1894

102 Cal. 218; 36 P. 410; 1894 Cal. LEXIS 620

Cases that cite this one

6 later published cases cite this decision.

Carter v. Manhattan Life Insurance (Haw. 1897)
Lucas v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. (Cal. Ct. App. 1936)
McCabe Bros. v. Aetna Insurance (N.D. 1899)
M. W. Engleman v. General Accident, Fire & Life Assurance Corporation (9th Cir. 1958)
Engleman v. General Accident, Fire & Life Assurance Corp. (9th Cir. 1957)
O'Brien v. New Zealand Insurance (Cal. 1895)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

The Court.

Byrnes, the local agent of defendant at Visalia, had no actual or ostensible authority to enter into a binding contract upon the part of defendant for the renewal of the policy held by plaintiff, and the proposal of plaintiff made to such agent for a renewal of said policy was, until communicated to and accepted by defendant, nothing more than a mere offer upon the *220part of plaintiff to renew such policy. The fact that the agent promised to communicate the offer to defendant, and did not do so until after the loss, while it might make the agent liable to plaintiff for the damage sustained by him growing out of such neglect, did not have the effect to create a binding contract for renewal between the plaintiff and defendant.

Judgment reversed.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.