158 P. 807 | Or. | 1916
Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the court.
The whole controversy turns upon the agreement as to the elimination of the average clause. It is important here for this reason: Plaintiff was partly insured in other companies not having this average clause, but containing a stipulation that in case he should take out other insurance by policies containing an average clause the first insurers should be entitled to share the benefits of such averages. Without going into the details of the various negotiations in regard to the policy issued as of July 30, 1914, and covered by the letter dated July 30,1914, heretofore quoted, we are of the opinion that the contract between the parties was for a blanket policy eliminating the average clause not only as to that policy, but from the rider in the February policy. Otherwise the letter quoted can have no meaning.
“The characteristic features of a blanket policy are well understood. Its very essence is that it covers to*400 its full amount every item of property described in it. If tbe loss upon one portion or item of tbe property exhausts the full amount of the policy, the whole insurance must be paid; there can be no apportionment of it. In the absence of a prorating clause, one blanket insurer among many insurers, whether blanket or specific, may be sued, and he must pay the whole loss if it is not in excess of his policy. His payment will give Mm certain equitable rights of contribution as against his coinsurers, but his legal obligation to pay the assured cannot be questioned. The contract holds him to that. These principles are elementary: 3 Joyce, Insurance, § 2492; 1 May, Insurance (3 ed.),§13; Ostrander, Fire Ins., § 204”; Schmaelzle v. London etc. Ins. Co., 75 Conn. 397 (57 Atl. 863, 96 Am. St. Rep. 233, 60 L. R. A. 536).
See, also, Scottish Union & National Ins. Co. v. Moore Mill & Gin Co., 43 Okl. 370 (143 Pac. 12); and generally Words and Phrases, title “Blanket Policy.” The evidence of Mr. Buehner and of Mr. Jelliff agrees this far: That Jelliff was soliciting the last policy of insurance; that Mr. Buehner was dissatisfied with the form of defendant’s policy theretofore issued; and that Jelliff prepared a form of rider eliminating the average clause, which would in effect have made the policies blanket policies, and gave several copies of it to Buehner. Jelliff says that the form was merely tentative and was not accepted by Buehner, but held up until he could consult Mr. Epperson of the Lumbermen’s Underwriting Alliance, at Kansas City, in regard to it, which institution also held policies upon substantially the same property. Buehner testifies that the contract was to go into effect at once and that Jelliff came to his office and got the form hi had himself prepared and which they had agreed upon for the purpose, as Buehner supposed, of preparing riders for the policy to be is
It is urged that a letter written by Mr. Buehner to Mr. Epperson supports Jelliff’s claim that the blanket form prepared by him had not been accepted by plaintiff. The substance of the letter is as follows:
“Inclosed please find a form that we have taken up with the local office here in regard to the plant account and the lumber in and about the mill, which takes the mill rate. As you no doubt know, the Carlton Lumber Company leased the mill of the Carlton Consolidated Lumber Company with the understanding that all new machinery and all additions to the plant must be put in by the Carlton Lumber Company, and that we must carry our own insurance covering this improvement. We have a book in which we have all the items enumerated, which covers the cost of the plant that the Carlton Lumber Company has put in, in order to enable us accurately to ascertain at any time, in case of fire, the cost of the work that the Carlton Lumber Company has put in and all records up to date. I would ask you whether you think it would be advisable to make a copy of this list, which would mean five or six pages, and attach it to the policies, as we do not care to have any dispute in case of fire. We intend to place the insurance on the lumber in the dry shed, planer shed, dry kilns, and all the lumber in and about the mill, in one policy with one company, and we would like to do the same with our plant account, putting it, say, with one or two companies, having all the forms exactly the same. Our plant account, including the stable plant, is about $35,000, with some deductions on account of foundations and support.”
The only suggestion asked in this letter is as to whether it would be advisable to attach a list of new machinery and additions to the plant to their policies. There is not one word in it asking for any suggestion as to the form of rider inclosed, and the letter is more
Believing that the findings of the court below are fully sustained by the testimony, the decree will be affirmed. Affirmed. Modified on Behearing.
Rehearing
Modified September 12, 1916.
On Petition for Rehearing.
(159 Pac. 969.)
delivered the opinion of the court.
The petition for rehearing challenges the right of the Circuit Court to allow interest on the amount recovered, from the. tenth day of December, 1914, to the fifteenth day of April, 1915, the date of the decree entered in that court. Upon the authority of Richardson v. Investment Co., 66 Or. 353 (133 Pac. 773), and Sargent v. American Bank & Trust Co., 80 Or. 16 (156 Pac. 431), such allowance was erroneous, and the decree will be modified so as to eliminate that item. In all other respects we adhere to the views expressed in our former opinion. Modified on Rehearing.