277 F. 713 | 8th Cir. | 1921
Lead Opinion
Whether or not the facts admitted, or shown in this case justified a directed verdict in favor of the plaintiff bank is the question presented. By means of a robbery, the bank lost a large amount of money and securities taken from the unlocked safe kept within an unlocked vault. This action was brought upon an insurance policy which had been issued to the bank by the plaintiff in error. The insurer agreed to indemnify the bank:
“A. For all loss of money and securities in consequence of the felonious abstraction of the same during the day or night from the safe or safes (or from the vault, if contents of same are specifically insured) after said safe or safes or vaults have been duly closed and locked, described in said schedule, while located in said hanking room, also described in said schedule, hereinafter called the premises, by any person or persons after forcible entry into such safe or safes or vault, or by any accomplice of such person or persons. In the event that the said safe or safes or vault are not locked by time lock, the company shall not be liable for loss of said money and securities feloniously abstracted therefrom unless said forcible entry is made therein by the use of tools, explosives, chemicals, or electricity directly thereupon.
“B. For all loss by damage to said money and securities and to said safe ' or safes or vault described in said schedule, or to the premises, or to the office furniture and fixtures therein, caused'by. such person or persons while making or attempting to make such entry into said premises, vault, safe, or safes.
“C. For all loss by robbery (commonly known as ‘holdup’) of money and securities: (1) From within the banking inclosure reserved for the use of the officers or office employés of the assured, while at least one officer or office employé of the assured is present and regularly at work in the premises: (2) From an officer or office employé of the assured while transferring the same during the assured’s regular office hours, either way between the said banking inclosures and any safe or vault described in the schedule as located in the premises, outside of the said inclosures: (3) from within that part of the safe or safes or vault insured hereunder, caused by robbers during the day or night, by compelling under the threat of personal violence an officer or employé' of the assured to unlock and open the safe or safes or vault.”
The bank occupied a rectangular room fronting on Locust street in JDes Moines, Iowa. A door opened into it from- the street, and led into the portion of the room known as the lobby, or the portion of it commonly used by the public in transacting business with the officers and employés. The lobby was a little longer than half the length of the banking room. Opposite this lobby was: First, an office room containing several desks usually occupied by the chief officers of the bank, and separated from the lobby by a gate and a counter;
“From an officer or office employé of tlie assured while transferring money or securities, during the assured’s regular office hours, either way between the portions of the banking room (including the vault) which were not occupied by the lobby and any safe or vault which is described in the schedule as located in the banking room at 603 Locust street, and is also located in the lobby.”
There was no safe nor vault located in the lobby, and such a location for a bank’s safe or vault is unusual and perhaps unknown, and would he exceedingly inconvenient as well as dangerous to the safe
. “(a) In amount of $20,000 to money and securities in safe No. 1. * * * (e) In amount of $20,000 to loss by robbery (commonly known as ‘holdup’).”
The insured claims that .this was insurance against the loss of money and securities from the safe, whether locked or unlocked, but this ignores the fact that it was only the insurance provided by the.policy, and which had been defined and limited as heretofore stated, which attached to the losses thus specially singled out. This specification was made in.order to define and limit the amount insured as to each of these classes of hazards, but was not made to contradict or qualify the terms and limitations of the risks covered in prior portions of the policy.
The court should have directed a verdict in favor of the insurer as to the liability for money and securities taken from within the vault, safe and chest.
The judgment will be reversed, and a new trial ordered.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). It is here urged that the loss was not within the terms of the bond. The loss occurred just before bank opening time in the morning. The robbers, under pretense of desiring to make a deposit, gained admission to the building while three officers or employés were transferring funds from a safe in a vault to the tellers’ cages and were otherwise preparing for the day’s business. The robbers, with pistols, intimidated the bank employés and robbed the safe. The safe was in a vault which opened into the inclosure reserved for employés and officers. The policy covered robbery (by holdup) of money and securities:
“(1) From within the banking inclosure reserved for the use of the officers or office employés of the assured, while at least one officer or office employs of the assured is present and regularly at work in the premises; (2) from an officer or office employs of the assured while transferring the same during the assured’s regular office hours, either way between the said banking inclosures and any safe or vault described in the schedule as located in the premises outside of the said inclosures; (3) from within that part of the safe or safes or vault insured hereunder, caused by robbers during the day or night, by compelling under threat of personal violence an officer or employe of the assured to unlock and open the safe or safes or vanlt.”
It is claimed that the safe, being in the vault, was not “within the banking inclosure” as used in above quotation; that the employés were not “regularly at work in the premises,” and that the policy does not cover robbery from an unlocked safe.
I think the .vault was clearly within the meaning of “banking enclosure reserved for the use of officers or office employés of the Assured.” It was a place opening only into that portion from which the public was excluded and in which the officers and employés worked and it was used by them in the ordinary work of the bank. The safe being within the vault was therefore within the “banking inclosure.”
I think there is no merit to the second point as the employés were regularly at work just before banking hours doing those things necessary and usual in preparation for the business of the day.
I think the judgment should be affirmed.