Hanover Fire Insurance v. B. C. Lewis & Sons
Hanover Fire Insurance v. B. C. Lewis & Sons
Opinion of the Court
On the 15th of August, 1885, George Lewis, Edward Lewis and William C. Lewis, styling themselves as partners under the firm name of B. C. Lewis & Sons, instituted their action in assumpsit in the Circuit Court of Leon county against the Hanover Fire Insurance Company, a Corporation of the State of New York, having an agency at Tallahassee, in Leon county, for the recovery of one-half of the amount of a policy of insurance for $5,000, issued to them on April 18th, 1882, by the Germania Fire Insurance Company and the Hanover Fire Insurance Company, as underwriters,
To the declaration in the cause the defendant company interposed rive pleas as follows.: 1st. Non-assumpsit; 2nd. Nil debit; 3rd. That the plain tilts did not before the institution of their suit make and furnish to the defendant proofs of their alleged loss in accordance wjth the requirements of the policy of insurance sued upon; 4th. That subsequent to the issuance of the said policy of insurance, and before the occurrence of the said fire, there took place a change in the title and possession of the sail property described in the said policy of insurance, in that the phiintiif William C. Lewis, who had no interest therein when the said policy was issued, became in part an owner thereof with the plaintiffs George Lewis and Edward Lewis, and entered into possession thereof with them before the said tire; 5th. That if the plaintiffs are entitled to recover from the defendant,
To the first and second of these pleas the plaintiffs joined issue. To the third and fifth pleas the plaintiff demurred, which demurrer upon subsequent argument was overruled.
To the defendant’s fourth plea the plaintiffs interposed a replication in avoidance of the. defense of a change of title in the property insured anterior to the
To this replication to the third plea the defendant demurred and at the same time moved to strike out the replication to the fifth plea. Upon subsequent argu
At this state of the proceeding, by leave of the court, the plaintiffs amended their declaration by striking out the name of William C. Lewis, as a party plaintiff,, and by styling their suit “George Lewis and Edward. Lewis, formerly partners under the firm name of 15. C. Lewis & lions,” as plaintiffs. Upon this amendment of the declaration, the defendant withdrew its firm plea of non-assumpsit and plead the others over to the declaration as amended. The plaintiffs then filed a replication to the defendant’s third plea,, substantially the same that they before interposed to same, which replication was demurred to again by the defendant, and the demurrer again overruled, which ruling was erroneous. The demurrer of the defendant to the replication to defendant’s third plea should have-been sustained for the obvious reason that the replication demurred to does not allege that proper proofs of loss were made by the plaintiffs and furnished to the defendant, or that proofs were thus made and furnished in compliance with the provisions for such proofs in the policy contained as one of the covenants therein ;but simply alleges that ‘ ‘proofs of their loss were furnished to defendant by plaintiffs on blank form furnished to plaintiffs by defendant for that purpose,” when the pith of the third plea to which it was_ intended as a reply, was that no proofs “in accordance with the' requirements of the policy sued upon” had been furnished. The
Upon defendant’f? fourth plea the plaintiffs joined issue. To the fifth plea the plaintiffs interposed a replica ¡ ion containing twenty-six numbered grounds of objection. Upon the filing of tills replication the defendant, moved the court to require the plaintiffs to elect the ground therein upon which they would rely, and to strike out the others. This motion seems, from tile record, to have been “granted,” and then by a subsequent order of t he court, it was specifically ordered that the ground of the replication “ contending* for a tender of the amount of the award set up in the fifth plea,” should be stricken out. Afterwards the plaintiffs seemed to have abandoned their replication to the fifth plea-, and filed a general rejoinder of issue the - eon. This disposes of the pleadings in the case.
On the 20th of January, 1888, the cause was tried before a jury and resulted in a verdict for the plaintiffs in the sum. of three thousand dollars. Motion for new trial was made and denied, and judgment for three thousand dollars entered against the defendant company, and from this judgment the case is brought here upon writ of error.
The first assignment has already been disposed of, and held to be error.
The 2d, 3d and 4th assignments will be discussed together, as they raise the same or closely kindred questions. It seems that when the policy of insurance sued upon was issued, George Lewis and Ed ward Lewis alone composed the firm of B. C. Lewis & Sons, to whom the policy was issued, and that they alone, as such partners, at the time of the issuance of the policy, owned- and held the legal title to the property covered by the policy. As testified to by Edward Lewis, subsequent to the issuance of the policy, but prior to the loss by fire, William C. Lewis was taken
The fifth assignment of error we. think is well la.ken. The whereabouts of T. J. Rawls, or the question as to Avliether lie was alive or dead, could not have any relevancy to any issue in this case; and we are at a loss
The sixth assignment of error is well taken, and is fatal to the verdict and judgment in this cause. Incorporated in tlie policy sued upon as one of the covenants therein, is the following provision: “In case differences shall arise touching any loss or damage, after proof thereof has been received in due form, the matter shall at the written request of either party be submitted to arbitrators, indifferently chosen, whose award in writing shall be binding on the parties as to the amount of such loss or damage, but shall not decide the liabilities of the companies respectively under this policy ” In pursuance of this provision the insurers and insured, after the loss, entered into the following agreement in writing for submission of the sole
(Signed) B. C. Lewis & Sons.
(Signed) Germania & Hanover Fire Ins. Cos.,
per Chas. C. Fleming, Special Agt.”
Then follows the oath of the said two builders as follows :
“Declaration op Builders.
County of Leon. State of Florida,
We, the nndersigned, do solemnly swear that to will act with strict impartiality in making an appraisement and estimate of the actual damage to the property of B. C. Lewis & Sons, insured by the Germania & Hanover Fire Insurance Companies of New York, agreeable to the foregoing appointment, and that we will return to said company a true, just and conscien*245 tious appraisement and estimate of damage on the same, according to the best of our knowledge, skill and judgment. Witness our hands this 10th day of April, A. D. 1885.
(Signed) B. F. Langley,
(Signed) T. J. Rawls.
Subscribed and sworn before me this 11th day of April, A. D. 1885.
(Signed) W. C. Lewis, Notary Public.”
Then follows the findings or award signed by one of said builders and an umpire alleged to have been selected by them, to-wit:
“ Award of Builders.
To the Germania and Hanover Fire Insurance Companies of New York : Having carefully estimated and appraised the damage by fire to the property of B. C. Lewis & Sons, agreeably to the foregoing appointment, we hereby report that, after having taken into consideration the age, condition and location of the premises previous to the fire, and making proper deductions for the walls, materials and portions of building saved, we have appraised and determined the damage to be four thousand, one huhdred and seventy-twm 75-100 dollars ($4,172.75).
Witness our hands this 11th day of April, 1885.
. (Signed) B. F. Langley,
(Signed) J. M. Wilson.”
This submission to arbitration and the awrard that followed was' specifically set up as a special defense by
Ever since the decision in 1353 in the House of Lords by Coleridge, J., of Avery vs. Scott, 3 Exch. (8 Welsb., H. & G.), 499, it has been uniformly held in England and in this, country, that provisions like this in a policy of insurance for the ascertainment and settlement of the amount of loss or damage by submission to arbitrators are proper, legal and binding on the parties, and do not fall within that class of arbitraments that undertake to oust the courts of their jurisdiction, and that are, therefore, obnoxious to the law. Wolf vs. Liverpool & London & Globe Ins. Co., 50 N. J., (Law), 453; Gauche vs. London & Lancashire Ins. Co., 4 Woods (U. S. C. C.), 102; Adams vs. So. Brit. & Natl. Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 70 Cal., 198; Trott vs. City Ins. Co., 1 Clifford (U. S. C. C.), 439; Zallee v. Laclede Mut. Fire and Marine Ins. Co.,
The seventh assignment of error is the giving of each and every of the instructions given by the court to the jury of the court’s own motion, and those requested by the plaintiffs, but in the briefs of counsel this assignment seems to have been abandoned, except as to the instruction lettered “E,” which is as follows : “The letter of the defendant acknowledging receipt of proofs of loss as of May 20th, 1885. The interest then
The eighth assignment of error is the refusal of the court to give nine instructions requested by the defendant. After what has been said upon the various question arising in this case we do not deem it necessary to discuss this assignment further than to say that the court below upon another trial can conform its rulings upon the questions raised by said refused
The ninth assignment- of error, the refusal to grant a new trial, it follows from what has been said, must be sustained. .V new trial should have been grunted.
The judgment of the court below is reversed, with instructions that a new trial be awarded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Hanover Fire Insurance Co., in Error v. B. C. Lewis & Sons, in Error
- Cited By
- 43 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Fire insurance, proofs of loss, arbitration of loss, pleading, INTEREST. 1. Where a plea to an action brought upon a ixilicy of Are insusurance is interposed alleging- that no preliminary proofs of loss have been furnished by the assured according to the provisions of the polios’- requiring such proofs as a condition precedent to the right to sue thereon, a replication to such plea is bad that simply alleges “that proofs of loss were furnished on blank forms furnished to plaintiffs by defendant for that purpose,” without alleging that the proofs so furnished were in accoidance with the requirements of the policy; and a demurrer to such n plication should he sustained. 2. G. and E. were partners in a general hanking business, and as such partners were ihe sole owners°of a house and the land upon which it was situated, which house they insured against loss by Are, the poliiy issued to them containing the following provision: “If the property be sold or transferred, or any change take place m the title or possession, whether by legal process or judicial decree, or voluntary transfer or conveyance, it should render the policy void,” After the issuance to them of the policy, but prior to the destruction of the property by Are, G. and E. admitted W. into their Arm as a partner, upon a verbal agreement that he was to have no interest in the properties of the former firm, hut a fixed interest only in the profits of the firm’s business generally. Held,-. That this did not give to YV. any interest in the insured property, nor work such change in the title, ownership or possession of the property as would avoid the policy under the abovo quoted provision therein. 3. Where the insurers, after receipt of proofs of loss, in a correspondence by letter repeatedly calls upon the assured for further or more particular information as to the interest or ownership that a party named in the proofs has in the insured property and in such correspondence and otherwise are-silent as to any other defect in the form or substance of such proofs, and fail to call the attention of the assured to any other defect that may exist in the proofs furnished, such silence and failure of the insurers to call the attention of the assured thereto, held to be a waiver on their part of any defect in such proofs not discovered Dy them to the assured; and I-Ield: That where the particular matter or information asked for in such correspondence is not requested to he furnished in verified form, such failure to request verification thereof is a waiver of that formality. Held further: That the information asked for by letter when sup]died by letter, will be treated as supplementary to such proofs upon the particular subject to which they relate. Held, further: That such proofs of loss and letter correspondence supplementary thereto are admissible in evidence at the trial to establish the fact that the requirements of the policy as to the furnishing of preliminary proofs of loss have been complied with before institution of suit. A. Where the assured inadvertently make an incorrect statement or mistake in the preliminary proofs of loss furnished to the insurers after loss, such statement or mistake may be after-wards corrected ar:d explained by parol testimony at the triad of a suit upon the policy, where the same explanation or correction lias been asked for by letter and given in substance by letter prior to the institution of the suit 5. In the trial of a suit upon a policy of lire insurance an unverified estimate of the cost of replacing the destroj'ed property made by a party while in life, but at the ti ne of the introduction of such estimate, deceased, is inadmissible in evidence for any purpose; and the fact that the party who made such estimate is dead at the time the same is offered in evidence does not render such estimate admissible. C. Where a policy of fire insurance contains the following provision : “In case differences shall arise touching any loss or damage after the proof thereof has been received in due form, the matter, shall at the written request of either party be submitted to arbitrators indifferently chosen, whose award in writing shall be binding on the parties as to the ainonnt of such loss or damage, but shall not decide the liability of the companies respectively under this jiolicy.” Held, to be a valid and binding covenant, and that when the parties under its provisions have submitted the finding of the amount of such loss to such arbitration, they are mutually bound as to the “amount” of the loss by the award of the arbitrators, unless such award, under proper pleadings, is avoided for fraud or other matter legally recognizable as vitiative thereof, and, that unless so avoided, the assured are limited in their right of recovery to the amount so awarded. 7. The arbitration provided for under such provision in a policy of insurance does not undertake to oust the courts of their jurisdiction, and is noc obhoxious to law. Neither is it necessary that such arbitration should be conducted in accordance with the statute, McClellan’s Digest, p. 105 et seq. Neither is it necessary to make such award available, that the same should be accepted or acted upon in anyway by the parties. Neither is it necessary, to render such award available as a defense in limitation of the amount of recovery, that the amount of such award should be paid or tendered. Such an award when specially pleaded in limitation of the, recovery sought for, is admissible in evidence upon the trial of a suitor upon the policy. 8. It is error for the trial court in a charge to the jury to supply any fact from other facts adduced in evidence, but should leave every fact and its establishment or non-establishment to the determination of the jury alone. 9. Where a policy of insurance provides that the amount of the loss insured shall lie due and payable sixty days after the furnishing by the assured of proofs of loss as provided by the policy, the assured are entitled to interest upon the amount of their recovery from a date sixty days after the furnishing by them of such proofs of loss.