Affron Fuel Oil, Inc. v. Firemen's Insurance
Affron Fuel Oil, Inc. v. Firemen's Insurance
Opinion of the Court
Following the conclusion of the trial,
The basis of the motion is evidence recently discovered which defendant' asserts will establish that -the endorsement on plaintiff’s policy, allegedly a renewal of prior ones issued to plaintiff or its predecessors, contains a .typographical error. I am satisfied that the triplicate carbon copies of the' policies, the ex-, istence of which it is asserted carne to light through an individual who acted as broker for the plaintiff and local 'agent for the defendant, could not have ..reasonably been discovered prior to the trial by the defendant and that an adequate excuse has been furnished for lack of knowledge of their existence by the defendant, which made it a practice to destroy carbon copies of policies after their expiration or renewal where no claim was made under the policy.
It is accepted policy to allow amendments freely when justice so requires and does not result in prejudice to the opposing party.
The plaintiff’s attorney quite properly urges that the plaintiff waived a jury trial because under the original answer essentially a question of law was presented, whereas the proposed amended answer poses issues of fact; and further these issues now require an examination before trial of the defendant, which was not necessary under the prior state of the pleadings.
Settle order on notice.
. The case -was tried upon a stipulation and the trial lasted less than an hour.
. Rule 13(f), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A., permitting the assertion of an omitted counterclaim by amendment.
. Rule 15(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
. Rule 15(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- AFFRON FUEL OIL, Inc. v. FIREMEN'S INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published