32 Mo. App. 198 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1888
— I. In support of the action of the circuit court, in sustaining a demurrer to the evidence, the defendant’s counsel suggest that under his own testimony the plaintiff did- not have an insurable interest in
It may be conceded that the property was the wife’s separate property and that the verbal gift of it by his wife to the plaintiff was invalid, but it does not follow that the plaintiff had not an insurable interest in it. The plaintiff had possession of the property claiming it as his own by virtue of a transfer of it from his wife ; if this claim was made in good faith by plaintiff he had an insurable interest in the property. The fact “that the title of the insured to the property is defective, or invalid even, will not deprive him of his insurable interest therein, if he is in possession and use thereof under a bona-fide claim of title, legal or equitable.” Wood on Fire Ins. 503. Again, if the verbal gift by the wife was invalid, the husband held the property as the wife’s trustee ; and a trustee having no personal interest in the property may procure an insurance on it. Wood on Fire Ins. 529; Ins. Co. v. Chase, 5 Wall. 513.
The defendant’s counsel also contend that the court properly sustained the demurrer to the evidence for the reason that the plaintiff did not introduce in evidence the entire policy of insurance, but only introduced the ninth and eleventh clauses of the policy.
It will be observed from the statement of the facts that the defendant in its answer admitted the issuance and assignment of the policy as alleged in the petition, and so far as concerns the terms of the policy set up only the defense that the plaintiff had not furnished the proofs of loss or the certificate of a notary as required by those terms. Under such circumstances we think that it was sufficient for the plaintiff to read in evidence
The defendant’s counsel make another point which we desire to dispose of before considering the principal question in this case. That point is that, because the plaintiff alleges, and relies in his petition for a recovery on, a compliance with the terms of the policy in furnishing the defendant with a certificate of a notary public, he could not at the trial prove, and recover on, a waiver by the defendant of such certificate.
This point must be decided against the defendant on the authority of St. Louis Ins. Co. v. Kyle, 11 Mo. 291. In the case at bar the plaintiff did furnish the defendant with a certificate of a notary public, and the plaintiff introduced the certificate in proof, of the allegation of the petition that such a certificate as was required by the policy had been furnished to the defendant; upon the defendant objecting to the form of the certificate in certain respects, the plaintiff offered evidence to show that the defendant had waived the objections then made by it. Such evidence was admissible to prove that in fact the plaintiff had complied with the policy alleged in the petition — strictly speaking the evidence of performance and not of waiver. Id.; Russell & Co. v. Ins. Co., 55 Mo. 593; Okey v. Ins. Co., 29 Mo. App. 105.
The real question in this case is, was there any evidence on which the court could have properly submitted the question of waiver to the jury %
The principal objections made to the notary’s certificate are: That the policy requires the certificate to state that the notary has examined the circumstances attending the fire, while the certificate states that he examined under oath witnesses having knowledge as to the circumstances of the loss; and that the policy requires the certificate to state that the notary ‘ ‘ verily
. On April 30, 1885, the notary, who made the certificate, wrote a letter to defendant’s agent at Kansas City calling his attention to the peculiar phraseology of the certificate, explaining that in it he refrained from venturing his individual opinion on the subject and only gave an opinion'produced by the evidence, and suggesting that it would be prudent for the defendant to investigate further before payment, as the evidence before him was solely from parties in interest. This letter explaining the notary’s certificate plainly furnishes ground and reason for the objections made by the defendant, at the trial and here, to the certificate. But on April 29, 1885, the defendant’s agent, to whom the notary’s letter was addressed, wrote to the plaintiff concerning the proofs of loss sent by him, and to which the certificate was attached, making four objections in all, three to the proofs of loss and one to the certificate.
The objection to the certificate was as follows: “The notary public does not give his certificate in these papers to the amount of loss as you claim to have sustained, in other words, there is a difference between the amount of loss you claim to have sustained and the amount of loss certified to by the notary public, which do not harmonize.” The agent suggested that the plaintiff complete the papers in the light of the objections made ; the words were: ‘ ‘ Please complete these papers or not as you choose, but in any event the papers will not be accepted as a particular account of loss until completed. ” Had the matter stopped there; had nothing more occurred between the defendant and the plaintiff' in relation to the certificate, it is too plain for argument that the defendant w*ould have been confined to the single objection made by its agent to the certificate. Having pointed out a particular objection to the certificate, the defendant would have been presumed to have-accepted it subject only to that objection.
The general rule is: “If the magistrate’s certificate is defective in form, or in substance, the insurer must seasonably object thereto, specifically designating the ground of objection, or the defects will be treated as waived.” Wood on Fire Ins. p. 714, sec. 416, and cases,
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.