Shultz v. North River Insurance
Shultz v. North River Insurance
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This is an appeal from a judgment awarded to plaintiff upon an insurance policy.
By the policy plaintiff’s building in Neutral was insured against loss by fire or lightning for a period of one year from June 24, 1918. It appears that a small loss by fire was sustained on October 21, 1918, which was adjusted, and later the defendant sent a draft for
It is argued the entry made on the “Daily Report” indicates that notice was given to Logan, but even if that is granted it would be fruitless unless Logan can be regarded as the agent of the plaintiff. If he was not authorized by plaintiff to receive notice of a cancellation or unless he stood in such a relation to plaintiff that agency as to the transaction may be implied, a notice to him would be unavailing. The claim is that plaintiff had entrusted to Logan the -matter of keeping his property insured and therefore he must be •treated as the agent of the plaintiff. The only basis for the claim iof agency is that plaintiff telephoned to the agent of defendant, about the time the original policy expired, asking him to issue the policy in question, and that he expected Logan to issue the policy,
“If you find that said J. Wilbur Logan was the agent of plaintiff and authorized to receive notice of cancellation, and that the company did cancel the policy and notify said Logan of such cancellation prior to the fire in question, then that would be a cancellation and be binding on the plaintiff, even though said Logan may not have communicated such notice to the plaintiff. On the other hand, if you do not find that said Logan was the agent of said plaintiff and authorized to receive notice of cancellation, then any notice of cancellation that may have been given to said Logan would not be notice to or binding upon the plaintiff.”
The finding of the jury determines that Logan was not the agent of plaintiff to receive notice of cancellation, and the. evidence furnished a good basis for the finding.
Error is also assigned on the ruling of the court in permitting secondary evidence of the provisions of the policy, when no showing was made that plaintiff had made efforts to obtain possession of the policy. This contention is without merit, as the defendant concedes that it had in some way gained possession of the policy and had destroyed it. Why should the plaintiff go through the useless task of a search for a policy or make a showing that it could not be produced when it is admitted that defendant had already destroyed it?
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- S. Shultz v. The North River Insurance Company of New York
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published