Brady v. State Insurance
Brady v. State Insurance
Opinion of the Court
On the evening of Easter Sunday, March 23, 1913, plaintiff’s dwelling-house was completely destroyed, partly by the terrible tornado which swept through the city of Omaha about 6 o’clock that evening, and partly by fire. On February 14, preceding the fire, plaintiff obtained from defendant a policy of insurance in the sum of $2,000,. insuring her building against loss or damage by fire or lightning. At the same time, and as a part of the same transaction, but for a separate agreed consideration, defendant also
The errors assigned are: that the court should not have directed a verdict for defendant; that the verdict is contrary to law, and not sustained by the evidence, but is contrary thereto. The petition is in the usual form. The answer denies generally all allegations of the petition, except as to the corporate capacity of defendant and the issuance of the policy sued upon, and pleads, specifically: (1) That by the terms of the policy it was provided that, “if a building or any part thereof fall, except as the result of fire, all insurance by this policy on such building or its contents shall immediately cease;” that the building was blown down and destroyed by tornado, so that it fell, not-as the result of any fire or lightning, but solely as the result of wind and tornado; that there was no loss or damage to the building by fire or lightning prior to the time it fell as a result of the tornado; that the liability of the defendant, under the terms of the policy, immediately ceased the moment the building fell as the result of the tornado; and (2) that, concurrently with the execution of the fire
Plaintiff testified that on the evening in question she was on the back porch of the house, and saw the tornado approaching at a distance of about a block, and then observed flames, from 4 to 6 or 7 inches long, in a number of places along the roof of the porch, where the electric wires were fastened; that the tornado struck the house (which must have been practically immediately), moving it bodily about 10 or 12 feet north and a little to the west, where it stood partly on the foundation and partly off the foundation, leaning a little because of the slope of the ground; that, when the storm had passed, the house .was standing apparently in good shape, except as described, and except the front porch, which was somewhat dilapidated, and possibly some windows broken; that the fire had increased in the meantime, and could be seen at the back of the house by looking through the front windows; that the house continued to burn with more or less force, depending upon how hard it rained; that, when she left there at the end of that time, the house was still standing, but burning generally all over; that, when she next saw the place, the following day, the house had been entirely burned and nothing but ashes and non combustible portions of the house and furniture remained on the former site of the house.
Richard Brady (plaintiff’s son) testified that, as soon as he reached the cellar, the house moved from over them and'the south and west foundation walls of cement fell in on top of them; that, as soon as the storm passed, he climbed out from under the debris and out of the cellar;
R. H. Randall (plaintiff’s father) testified that he was a carpenter and contractor; that he built the house for plaintiff four years before the tornado, and described the character of the housé. He testified that it would cost from $3,000 to $3,600 to construct one like it; that after the tornado had passed all of the north side of the west gable of the house was burning rapidly and flames were coming out of the roof in several places; that the house seemed to be in good condition, the roof and sides all there, but the roof of the porch seemed to be gone, and the house was tilted some because of the slope of the ground; that the sides of the house were all right, except leaning over; that it continued to burn until past midnight, when it was all burned up.
This is substantially all of the evidence that was given as to the condition of the house immediately before and immediately after it was struck by the tornado. Taking this testimony as true, it clearly establishes that but little damage was done to the house by the tornado, and that its total destruction was due to fire. In the light of this testimony, if there had been no fire the loss which defendant would have been compelled to pay, by reason of the tosrnado, would have been a nominal amount as compared with the amount of the insurance. Under this testimony, the defendant would not have been liable under the valued policy law for the destruction of the building, as it had not, by reason of anything which had been done by the tornado,
Under the valued policy law of this state, when insurance is written to insure real property against loss by fire, tornado, or lightning, and the property shall be wholly destroyed without criminal fault on the part of the insured, “the amount of the insurance written in such policy shall be taken conclusively to be the true value of the property insured and the true amount of loss and measure of damages.” Rev. St. 1913, sec. 3210. What was the amount of insurance written by the defendant under its two policies issued February 14? Was it $2,000 under each policy, making an aggregate of $4,000 under both, or did the amount stated in one policy constitute the value of the property to be insured, as contemplated by the contracting parties? and was the tornado policy merely an incident to and a part of the fire policy, so that $2,000 in all was the sum upon which the minds of the parties met as the sum which should constitute plaintiff’s indemnity in case of her loss of the building by any of the contingencies insured against? We think it is a matter of common knowledge, not only among insurers, but with the insuring public, that insurance for a certain sum against loss or damage by fire or lightning, and for the same sum for loss or damage by tornado, is understood and intended to mean that the insurance by the second policy is not for a sum in
That those cases apply only where the several companies assume the same character of risk is made plain by a simple illustration. Suppose two different companies had insured plaintiff’s building, company No. 1 against fire or lightning for $2,000, and company No. 2 against tornado for $2,000. Is there any possible theory upon which plaintiff could have recovered from both of those companies under the valued policy act? Clearly she could not. Why? Because the building could not have been “wholly destroyed” by the fire and “wholly destroyed” by the tornado. If one of • these elements wholly de
As held in Dyckman v. Sevatson, 39 Minn. 132: “One who has voluntarily chosen and carried into effect an appropriate legal remedy, with knowledge of the facts and of his rights, will not, in general, be allowed to after-wards resort to an inconsistent remedy, involving a contradiction of the grounds upon which he before proceeded.”
In Turner v. Grimes, 75 Neb. 412, 416, after quoting from the opinion in the Minnesota case, we added: “To sustain the present action requires a negation of the facts set forth in the petition in the first action, and having assumed a certain position in this litigation, and having vexed the defendant with a lawsuit based thereupon, he cannot now be permitted to change his position and
The language there used by Mr. Commissioner (now Judge) Lett on exactly fits the case at bar. To sustain the present action requires a negation of the facts set forth in plaintiff’s proof of loss under her tornado policy, and, having assumed the position then that defendant was liable for the full amount of her insurance under the tornado policy and obtained the same from defendant upon that claim, she cannot now be permitted to change her position and harass the defendant with an action based upon another and totally different theory, viz., that her house suffered little damage from the tornado, but was wholly destroyed by the fire.
The judgment of the district court is right, and it is
Affirmed.
Reference
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- Pearl R. Brady v. State Insurance Company
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