73 N.Y.S. 1 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1901
As the insured knew at the time the policy of reinsurance was issued that some of the property had already been destroyed the contract of reinsurance did not cover the destroyed property, but only the part of it in existence. A contract of insurance may be retrospective where by reason of the remoteness of the property it is not known to the insured whether it is not already destroyed, a familiar case being the insurance of ships and cargoes at sea, “ lost or not lost ”; but if the insured know of Its loss, and does not reveal it, the contract is fraudulent and not-' binding (2 Parsons on Cont. 444; 3 Kent's Com. 258; Ins. Co. v. Folsom, 18 Wall. 237; Bentley v. Columbia Ins. Co., 17 N. Y. 421; Hallock v. Commercial Ins. Co., 26 N. J. L. 268; 27 N. J. L. 645; Security Fire Ins. Co. v. Kentucky Marine & Fire Ins. Co., 7 Bush (Ky.) 81; Hammond v. Allen, 2 Sumn. 387). The policy
Judgment for the defendant.