51 Ga. App. 625 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1935
1. It is the general rule that “conditions which enter into the validity of a contract of insurance at its inception may be waived by the agent and are waived if so intended, although they remain in the policy when delivered, and limitations therein upon the authority of the agent to waive such conditions otherwise than in writing attached to or
2. In order to transfer title to land by deed, it must be “delivered to the purchaser or some one for him.” Code of 1933, § 29-101. “The delivery of a deed is complete as against the maker at the moment when the deed is in the hands or in the power of a grantee or donee or some one for him, with the consent of the grantor and with the intention that the grantee shall hold it as a muniment of title.” Willingham v. Smith, 151 Ga. 102 (2), 104 (106 S. E. 117); O’Neal v. Brown, 67 Ga. 707, 712. .'“Whether a deed has in fact been delivered is a question for the jury, unless the proof is so complete and undisputed that a verdict is demanded thereunder for one or the other party.” Morris v. Morris, 171 Ga. 642 (156 S. E. 256); Lowry v. Lowry, 150 Ga. 324 (2), 326, 327 (103 S. E. 813); Chattahoochee Fertilizer Co. v. Quinn, 169 Ga. 801 (151 S. E. 496). Presumptions in favor of the delivery of a deed arising from its possession by the grantee, its due recordation, its attestation by an officer, and the possession of the premises conveyed under the deed are evidence of delivery; and while these presumptions are rebut-table ones, the evidence of an unimpeached witness that the deed was not delivered raises a conflict between such presumptive evidence of delivery
3. Even though it be assumed that, under the Code of 1933, § 57-110, interest eo nomine is not recoverable except where the demand of the plaintiff is made “fixed or certain” by “agreement or otherwise,” and interest on a loss under a fire-insurance policy can only be recovered from the date when the amount of the claim has been liquidated and determined (Sentinel Fire Ins. Co. v. McRoberts, 50 Ga. App. 732, 179 S. E. 256; Insurance Co. of North America v. Folds, 42 Ga. App. 306 (4), 155 S. E. 782), a claim for the face amount of a fire-insurance policy on a dwelling is to be deemed fixed, certain, and determined under the contract, so as to authorize interest thereon, where the loss was admittedly total, and the insurance company neither prior to nor in the suit on the policy in any way questioned the amount, but based its sole defense on an alleged forfeiture of the policy by breaches of its conditions.
4. Under the foregoing principles, the verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the amount of the policy and interest, commencing when the defendant’s liability under the policy began, sixty days after proofs of loss, was authorized. The court did not err in refusing a new trial on the general grounds, or on the special grounds excepting to instructions which were in substantial accord with these rulings.
Judgment affirmed.