75 Iowa 374 | Iowa | 1888
— I. The policy of insurance was issued on the twenty-fifth day of July, 1885, and by its terms it insured the plaintiffs’ mules and horses, owned and kept upon certain premises, against loss by fire, lightning, tornadoes, etc., in the sum of five hundred dollars. On the twentieth day of August, 1886, and during the life of the policy, a barn was burned upon said premises, and two mules and four horses were destroyed by the fire. There is no dispute as to the .loss of the property, nor the proofs of loss, or for failure to pay the insurance premiums. The answer, although containing formal denials, really interposes but one defense, which is that at the time the policy in suit was issued, and afterwards, there was a policy of insurance upon the barn which was burned, in the Eden Insurance Company, in the sum of one hundred dollars, and on the contents in the sum of five hundred dollars, and that said mules and horses were part of the contents of the barn at the time it was destroyed, and that the policy of the defendant was therefore void. The policy contained the usual provision that it should be void in case there was other insurance upon the property. The plaintiffs, by their reply, averred that the agent of the defendant, who wrote and issued the policy, knew at the time the insurance was effected that there was a policy in force issued by the Eden Insurance Company, and that by reason of such knowledge the defendant waived the provisions of the policy against prior insurance, and is estopped from claiming the same as a defense.
II. The material question of fact in the case was whether the defendant, by reason of the alleged knowledge of its agent, waived the provision against prior insurance. Upon this question the evidence is not very clear. There is a dispute in the abstracts of appellant and appellees as to what the evidence really was, and we have made a full and thorough examination of the transcript, and our conclusion is that we ought not to interfere with the verdict upon the ground that it is not supported by the evidence. We think the jury could fairly find that the agent knew of the prior policy, and that it covered the live stock. The apparent lack of evidence upon this question, as it appears to us, arises upon the construction put upon the prior policy by the agent. We do not have much doubt that he knew its contents, at least, in a general way.
III. It is claimed by counsel for appellant that the
IV. Counsel for appellees claim the appeal should not be considered on the ground of defects in the record. We do not think these objections are well taken, and it is unnecessary to set them out or discuss them.
Affirmed.