38 F. 378 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern California | 1889
The complainant and 12 other insurance companies had issued policies of insurance upon defendant’s works, machinery, and manufactured implements on hand. The property insured was destroyed by fire, and the value of the property destroyed was alleged by the defendant to be $142,000. An adjustment was finally made between the several companies and the defendant, by which the loss by mutual agreement was adjusted at $90,000. The complainant now files its bill in equity, alleging that this adjustment was procured by misrepresentation of facts, and fraud on the part of defendant, and that defendant is about to sue complainant upon the adjustment as made for its share of the loss. It asks that the adjustment be declared void on the ground of fraud, and that the defendant be enjoined from suing upon it. The 12, other companies have filed similar bills. The defendant demurs on the ground that the fraud alleged is equally available, as a defense at law, and, that, the defendant, therefore, has a plain, adequate, and complete remedy at law within the meaning of section 723 of the Revised Statutes. The point, I think, is well taken. The bill