70 N.Y.S. 147 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1901
Lead Opinion
The plaintiff is the transferee of the bills of lading of certain goods said to have been shipped from Vera Cruz, Mexico, by Antonio Hoffman, doing business under the firm name of Hoffman Hermanos, upon the bark L. S. Ocmn, upon which the plaintiff procured valued policies of insurance to be issued by the defendant and other companies. The ship having been lost, he brought this action to recover from the defendant the amount of the policies. It is unnecessary to recite the various proceedings which have been had in this long and unfortunate litigation, but it is sufficient to say that upon1 the fifth trial the plaintiff recovered a verdict for the full amount of the policy, with interest. That verdict was set aside by the trial court and a new. trial granted,-and it is from that order that this appeal is taken.
The defense was that by far the larger portion of the goods insured was never shipped, but that bills of lading had been given for them by the master of the vessel in pursuance of a fraudulent conspiracy to which Hoffman was a party to the effect that fraudulent bills of lading should be given for a much larger amount of goods than were actually to be shipped, and that the master of the ship should scuttle it and abandon it at sea, so that the shippers might recover of the insurance companies for the amount of goods stated in the bills of lading to have been shipped.
It was conceded that the vessel was abandoned at sea by her crew, but did not sink, and after floating about for some months was finally recovered and brought into port at Norfolk. The seriously litigated questions upon the trial were whether there was such a conspiracy ; whether Hoffman was a party to it, and whether the goods mentioned and described in the bills of lading were actually shipped.
The learned justice who presided at the trial now under review
Upon this trial, as upon all the trials, an. effort had been made to show that Antonio Hoffman, the only member of the firm of Hoffman Brothers, was a party to the • fraudulent conspiracy which the ' defendant claimed was made. It was assumed by counsel and by the court that if the defendant was successful in its effort to establish to the satisfaction' of the jury that Antonio Hoffman was a party to the fraudulent conspiracy the plaintiff' could not recover. This case was sent to the jury upon that theory, and the learned justice required them to answer the question whether Antonio Hoffman was a party to an agreement to defraud the insurance company. It was answered by the jury in the negative, and upon the theory upon which the question was submitted to them that determination necessarily involved a verdict for the plaintiff for the full amount of the policy without reference to the fact whether, by mistake or otherwise, a large portion of the goods was not shipped so that the policy could not have attached to them. The learned justice was not satisfied with the conclusion reached hy the jury upon this point, and his order was evidently made upon the ground that the finding that Antonio Hoffman was not a party in the conspiracy to defraud the defendant was against the weight of the evidence, and that they should have found that he was a party and cognizant of ^ all the things done for the purpose of carrying it out.
In the conclusion which he reached upon this motion' we fully agree; It is quite true that there was no direct evidence to connect Hoffman with this conspiracy, but upon all the facts it would seem almost impossible that he was not cognizant of what was done while this vessel was being loaded. The evidence establishes beyond any question, in our judgment, the fact that the bills of lading made to him and his firm were fraudulent, not only because they stated to have been shipped a very large quantity of goods which were not
The relationship of Hoffman to the parties guilty of this fraud and the fact that no one could profit by it to so great an extent as he, establish the likelihood of his participation in it, and when , is added to that the fact that he pretended to have no personal knowledge of the matter and relied largely upon the claim that he had purchased these goods, but refused an examination of his books which would have shown clearly whether or not he ever did buy them, it is quite satisfactorily shown that he was a party to the conspiracy, and knew what was being done by way of carrying it out. As the case was submitted to the jury upon the theory that if Hoffman was a party to the transaction the plaintiff was not entitled to recover, and the jury rendered their verdict upon a consideration of that question, then if that evidence would not sustain the verdict the case should be sent back for a new trial, although it is now said that this theory was not correct and that the case should have been submitted to the jury upon an entirely different idea of the law. Whatever may be the correct notion of the law now, whep the jury were instructed that a certain fact was decisive of the action and they reached a wrong conclusion upon that fact and thereby arrived at an incorrect verdict based upon that theory, justice requires that the verdict should be set aside and the case sent to another jury that they may consider it upon the correct theory. The plaintiff in this case is not entitled to retain a verdict which was reached against the weight of the evidence, although the question presented is one which upon a subsequent consideration of the case would seem to be less material than was supposed when the case was submitted.
But the learned justice at thd Trial Term presents in his opinion another ground for the granting of this new trial with which we concur. The jury were told that if Hoffman was not a guilty participant in this fraudulent conspiracy the plaintiff was entitled to recover the full amount of the policy although in fact a very material portion of the goods was not shipped, and it was expressly said to them that they were not allowed to give a verdict for the relative amount of the insurance. The evidence tending to show
A careful consideration of the theory upon which this case was sent to the jury shows that the charge in that regard must have been harmful to the defendant. The theory was that the plaintiff was entitled to recover in any event unless the jury were satisfied that Antonio Hoffman was an actual participant in the fraudulent con
In the case of Layman v. Anderson & Co. (4 App. Div. 124) a new trial had been granted upon the ground that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence, and upon an appeal from that order solely upon that ground this court reversed it. The case afterward came on to be heard upon exceptions. The point was then taken that as these exceptions were properly before the court upon the appeal from the order granting the new trial, and as the court had reversed that order, it necessarily followed that the rulings made by the court to which the exceptions had been taken had been sustained, and, therefore, the determination in the former appeal was a conclusive adjudication that the proceedings upon the trial had been correct. That proposition was sustained by this court, and a reargument. of the appeal from the order granting the new trial was directed, so that the exceptions might be considered, and upon the argument of that appeal this court, adhering .to its determination that the court erred in granting the new trial, because the verdict was against the weight of the evidence, nevertheless, affirmed the order, because the exceptions were well taken. So, therefore, upon this appeal not only
An examination of this ease satisfies us. that there were several erroneous rulings upon the trial. As has already been made "to •appear, a serious question upon the trial was as to the quantity of the goods which had actually been shipped. The claim of the defendant was that there was a conspiracy between the master and several other persons, among them the shipper of these goods, to the effect that false bills of lading should be made; that the captain should scuttle his ship, so that there might be recovered from the insurance companies, including this defendant, the full amount of the insurance, although packages mentioned in the bills of lading contained filth and dirt of various kinds, instead of such valuable goods as-were said to have been shipped. It was admitted upon the trial that there was a conspiracy between certain parties other than Hoffman to scuttle this ship. That conspiracy being admitted, it will be seen that it was exceedingly important to show to what extent it was carried out with respect to the shipment of goods.
The plaintiff undertook tó show that substantially all the goods-mentioned in the bills of lading were shipped, and for that purpose he called one Malpica, who testified that certain packages were put aboard the ship, and he was able by refreshing his memory to recall the number of packages, although he was not able to state what they contained nor how large a quantity of any particular kind of goods was shipped.
After his testimony was given, a commission addressed to Antonio-Hoffman was offered in evidence. He, being asked whether his firm shipped any goods to the port of New York upon a vessel sailing from Vera Cruz in 1882, testified that all he knew about it was that he had receipts for the delivery of goods and bills of lading-given to the captain, and that in fact goods were shipped by Malpica, but he had no further personal knowledge of the shipment of the goods. It has been held upon one of the former trials of this
The only way in which it was important was as tending to show that certain goods had been shipped by the firm of Hoffman Brothers upon this vessel in the month of January, 1882. As to the actual fact of the shipment, Hoffman conceded that he had no personal knowledge, and at the time the evidence was given no evidence whatever had been given to show the shipment of any particular quantity of such goods, nor indeed had any competent testimony been given to show the shipment of any goods at all. It is quite true that Malpica had testified that he had carried goods from the shore to the ship, and he was able to state the number of packages, and that some being torn he saw what they contained, but he had no other knowledge as to the quantity or kind of the goods shipped or as to the places whence they had come or the persons who had supplied them, and there was no testimony as to the shipment of any goods by Hoffman Brothers because at that time the bills of lading had not been put in evidence. Therefore, the testimony which Hoffman gave amounted to proof not only that he had bought certain goods but that they were shipped on the I. E. Ccmn, but although he may have known that he had bought the goods, he had no personal knowledge of the fact of shipment. As-the interrogatory applied only to goods
A witness upon whom the defendant relied to establish, the fact of the conspiracy and the falsifying of the hills of lading, was one Brooks, who was the master of the ship, and he testified as to "the conspiracy, the circumstances under which it was made, the persons who were in it, and the way it was carried out. He undertook to testify as to the quantity of certain goods shipped and this testimony went directly to the fact in issue. He was asked to state how the actual cargo shipped compared with the cargo stated to have been shipped in the hills of lading. There can be no question as to the grave importance of that question. An objection was taken to that question, and although the court did not rule that that question was incompetent, the objection was sustained as to the answer on the ground that the witness stated that “I think” there was a difference of between fifty per cent and sixty per cent, and the answer to that extent was stricken out, the reason given being that it was clear that the witness did not testify from his personal knowledge or recollection, but because he used the word “ think ” it was necessarily to be inferred that he only gave an estimate. As to the particular answer the error was cured because the question immediately afterwards asked wras, “ Q. That is, you gave bills of lading for sixty per cent more than there was actually shipped? A. Yes, sir, the number of packages.” So it is clear that as to this' answer no harm was done by the ruling. It is referred to, however, because it was the foundation of a similar ruling very hurtful to the defendant. It had been stated that a certain number of goat skins had been- shipped and the bills of lading called for fifteen. The question was1 asked, “ Do you remember how many bundles of skins there were that you received
It was important to show not only the fact that there was a conspiracy, but also what was done in pursuance of it, and the rule is well settled in that regard that where prima facie evidence of a conspiracy is given, the declarations of the conspirators made in carrying it out are competent evidence. (People v. Van Tassel, 156 N. Y. 561.) One essential part of this conspiracy was that the shippers should put on board the vessel packages of dirt and filth and other articles of no value, under the name of valuable articles,
It is unnecessary to consider the other rulings upon the trial. Whether we say that the jury erred in their conclusion that Antonio Hoffman was not a party to this transaction, so that the defendant was deprived of its right to recover a verdict because of that erroneous finding, or whether we say that there were errors upon the trial which were harmful to the defendant, in either case the order of the trial court was correct and should be affirmed, with costs to the respondent to abide the event of the new trial.
Hatch, J., concurred; Patterson, J., concurred in result; Van Brunt, P. J., and Ingraham, J., dissented,
Dissenting Opinion
This case has been tried five times. Twice the plaintiff has had a verdict; once the complaint was dismissed; once the defendant had a verdict, and once the jury disagreed. Upon the fifth trial certain specific questions of fact were submitted to the jury and answered in favor of the plaintiff, and there was a general verdict for the plaintiff for the full amount claimed; but upon a motion made on the judge’s minutes the verdict was set aside and "a new trial granted, and the case now comes to us on an appeal from the order entered on that motion.
The action was brought to recover upon a policy of marine insuiv anee whereby the .defendant insured the plaintiff “ on account of whom it may concern ” by a valued policy upon a certain cargo
said. * * * The said goods and merchandises hereby insured are valued at (including premium) $29,500.” The perils insured against are “ of the seas, * * * barratry of master and mariners, and all other perils, losses and misfortunes that have or shall come to the hurt, detriment or damage of the said goods and merchandises, or any part thereof.” This vessel took on board a portion of the cargo at Vera Cruz, then proceeded to Tecolutla, Mexico, when she completed her cargo, and from there sailed for New York. Subsequently she sprung a leak in the Atlantic ocean and was abandoned on the 27th of April, 1882, about 180 miles from Charleston, S. C. In the following June she was discovered still afloat and was towed into Norfolk, Va. The further facts are stated in an action brought by this plaintiff against the Providence Washington Insurance Company (51 App. Div. 553) and it is not necessary to restate them here. The question of fact was submitted to the jury by the learned trial judge with a charge which seems to have been entirely satisfactory to the defendant as no exception was taken to it and the defendant submitted but one request to charge which did not relate to any question which is important upon this appeal.
The judge submitted three questions to the jury: “1. Was Antonio Hoffman a participating party to the agreement to defraud the insurance company % 2. Was there a deviation from unreasonable and unnecessary delay at Tecolutla ? 3. Was the L. E. Gann seaworthy to encounter the ordinary perils of the sea when she left Tecolutla on a voyage to New York ? ” To the first two questions the jury answered “ no,” and to the last question they answered “ yes; ” and to the general question whether they found for the i plaintiff or the defendant, the jury found in favor of the plaintiff for $7,132.99:—the court having charged the jury that if they found in answer to the first special question that Hoffman was a participating party to the agreement to defraud the insurance company, they
After the trial, but before the decision of this motion, the case of this plaintiff against the Providence "Washington Insurance Company (supra), which related to a similar policy of insurance issued by the defendant in that action upon this same cargo, came before us and we held that if Hoffman did participate in the fraud, this plaintiff would, notwithstanding, be entitled to indemnity to the extent that, he had become the owner of the goods that were actually shipped, upon this vessel; that the policy being a valued policy, upon proof that the cargo was actually placed upon the vessel the plaintiff, was" entitled to recover unless the defendant could show that the whole cargo upon which the valuation had been placed had not actually been shipped, in which case the plaintiff would be entitled to recover only an amount equal to the proportion that the cargo which was actually shipped bore to the entire cargo that was valued -in the» policy. After this decision was announced, the learned trial judge granted this motion upon the ground that he had refused to allow the jury to pass upon the question as to whether or not the total
tions the jury innocently or sympathetically made prevented substantial justice, and caused a more severe verdict than would have been the case if the jury had been rightly guided by the court, in which they had the right to have the utmost confidence. As the case was submitted to the jurors, they were required to say that an innocent consignee and holder of bills of lading, who had insured the goods covered, must either recover the whole of the insurance or nothing, and could not be permitted to receive the insurance indemnity up to the extent of his pecuniary interest in the áctual cargo. Out of this view was born a great temptation to protect one who was apparently innocent in fact, even to the extent of swaying the reason and coloring the judgment with a sympathetic tinge of what might seem to those jurors as practical justice. That they would have found otherwise may be inferred- from the strength of defendant’s case upon the facts.”
There is nothing in the record of the trial which would suggest that the jury were influenced in any way by the considerations which are here adverted to and which the court had thought might possibly have influenced the jury. The question as to Hoffman’s fraud was
The captain of this vessel testifies that he entered into a conspiracy • with one Granes, a resident of Vera Cruz, by which Granes was to charter the vessel, ship a bogus cargo to Hew York, and the vessel was to be sunk at sea and abandoned, and for this the captain (Brooks) was to be paid $6,500 ; that a cargo that was to a. large extent bogus was put on the vessel at Vera Cruz and Tecolutla and with it she sailed for Hew York. Brooks does not testify that Hoffman was connected with this conspiracy, and but for the fact that when this vessel arrived at Horfolk, Va., a considerable portion of the cargo, which it was claimed Hoffman had shipped, had disappeared, therewould.be no evidence to connect him with it; and this fact of the deficiency between the cargo that Hoffman claimed to have shipped and for which he received bills of lading and the cargo found in this vessel upon her arrival at Horfolk is, the fact that has been most relied on to show that Hoffman must have, shipped a much smaller cargo than was covered by the bills of lading upon which the valuation was based, with the intention of defrauding the insurance company when the vessel was lost. If this fact was proved and if the jury had believed that Hoffman had furnished a fraudulent cargo, taking bills of lading which showed a large excess in the amount shipped, _it is somewhat difficult to see how they could have found that Hoffman was not a party to the fraud. There is certainly nothing in the record that justified the trial judge in assuming on the motion, or that would justify us. in assuming upon this appeal, that the jury were swayed “ with a sympathetic tinge of what might seem to those jurors as practical justice ” to decide a question of fact contrary to- their convictions. The question of Hoffman’s participation in this fraud was submitted to them in a charge which certainly bore as strongly towards a finding in favor of an affirmative answer to this question as was justified by the evidence. Their attention was called to all the facts relied on to prove
In determining this question we must consider for a moment upon whom rests the burden of showing that the cargo represented by the bills of lading and which was the basis of the valuation of the policy was not actually shippod. As before stated, the policy was a valued one, and it has always been the rule that the value of the goods stated in a valued policy is, in the absence of fraud, conclusive between the parties, however, largely in excess of the true value.
(Voisin v. Providence Washington Ins. Co., supra, and cases there cited, to which may be added Kane v. Commercial Ins. Co., 8 Johns. 229; Cushman v. North Western Ins. Co., 34 Maine, 487; Boardman v. Boston Marine Ins. Co., 146 Mass. 443; Dumas v. United States Ins. Co. 12 S. & R. 437.) Upon proof, therefore, that the cargo thus valued in the policy was shipjped, that value in the absence of fraud became conclusive as the value of the cargo that was lost; and if the defendant wished to obtain the advantage of 'the rule laid down in Forbes v. Aspinall (13 East, 324), which we held applicable to cases under these policies in the Providence Washington Ins. Co. Case (supra), the'burden was on the defendant to show what part, if any, of the goods which were the basis of the valuation in the policy were not shiprped. The defendant insists upon this appeal that there was no evidence to show that the goods represented by Hoffman’s shipment were actually shipped. That question was determined by the late General Term of the Supreme
The main evidence, apart from the condition of the cargo at Norfolk, that questions the shipment by Hoffman is that of Brooks, the master of the ship, who was coneededly a party to. the conspiracy. He says, speaking generally of the cargo, that he gave bills of lading which called for fifty to sixty per cent more.than had actually been placed on board. Considering the conduct of Brooks, the fact that at this time when he testified he was in the pay of the defendants, had committed a crime for which the insurance company could procure his severe punishment, that he confesses that he had committed that crime, and that he had received the price that he was to be paid for committing it, his testimony certainly cannot be considered as being of much weight unless corroborated. The main fact relied on to corroborate him is the evidence of the goods found upon this vessel when she arrived at Norfolk. The vessel was abandoned in the Atlantic ocean on the 27th of April, 1882, and remained as derelict until some time in June, when she was discovered and towed to Norfolk, Va. When she was discovered she was barely afloat, her cargo being all submerged, and a considerable portion of the deck, from twenty-five to thirty feet, extending the whole width of the vessel, was torn ■ out. All her spars and some of her deck beams were gone. What happened to her during this period of over a month is not disclosed. She was at. the mercy of the winds and waves and of passing vessels that might see fit to help themselves from her cargo. She was just afloat, one of the witnesses saying that five tons more would have sunk her. After tire vessel arrived at Norfolk she seems to have been taken possession of by representatives of the insurance companies. Two boxes were taken out by a diver. After these two boxes were taken out the vessel was towed up.to Norfolk, and there unloaded. There was. evidence of various witnesses
The defendant introduced letters written by Granes, who, if the captain is to be believed, was the principal conspirator and who shipped a large part of the bogus cargo upon this vessel, as declarations of a co-conspirator; and assuming that Granes and this captain united to defraud the insurance companies, the statements in these letters are.important to show what relation, if any, Hoffman had to Granes in this understanding with Brooks. On the 26th of December, 1881, Granes wrote to Messrs. Thurber & Co. of New York, who was his consignee, stating that the L. JE. Gann could be chartered, and that by chartering her he would have the advantage of being able
There is certainly nothing in this correspondence to indicate in any way that these shippers of freight were engaged with Granes in the conspiracy to ship goods which it was expected would be lost, or that their shipments were not made in good faith; and the assumption that Granes had put on board a bogus cargo would explain the fact that there were boxes of dirt and other refuse which were found at Norfolk without conclusively establishing that Hoffman’s shipment was not an honest one. The defendant laid great stress upon the refusal of Hoffman to show his books to Brown, the agent of the insurance companies, when he went to Mexico, but at this time the insurance companies were contesting the claim, the action having been brought in August, and this demand by Brown was in December, 1882, or January, 1883. It is not surprising, under these circumstances, that Hoffman should decline to exhibit his books of account to the agents of the insurance companies who were charging him with fraud and with being a party in such a conspiracy as is charged in this case.
We thus come back to the consideration of whether, upon all the testimony, the verdict of the jury that Hoffman was not a party to this conspiracy, and that he did ship upon this vessel the goods
This being so, what basis is there for the supposition that, if the question as to whether or not all of the goods represented by these bills of lading and upon which was based the value claimed in the policy had been submitted to the jury, they would have found that all of the goods were not shipped ? I can see nothing to suggest any reason why they would have found that all of the goods were not shipped if they found that Hoffman was not a party to the fraud. As before stated, the court left the question as to whether Hoffman shipped all the goods represented by the bills of lading to the jury in considering the question as to whether or not Hoffman was engaged' in this fraudulent conspiracy; and .there is at least a fair presumption that they considered that question and determined that the goods were shipped in considering whether or not Hoffman was a participant in the fraud; but even if this conclusion cannot properly be drawn we have the fact that it was the plaintiff who wished that question left to the jury; that the court refused to submit it; that the defendant took the benefit of that refusal by having the jury directly instructed that if Hoffman was implicated in the fraud the plaintiff could not recover, taking the chance- of a finding that Hoffman was guilty of fraud, from which would result a verdict for the defendant •—• a position which had been insisted on by the defendant since the commencement of this litigation. And the defendant having made no claim that a different rule should be adopted, not asking for an instruction which would allow the jury to find a verdict for the plaintiff, although Hoffman was guilty of the fraud, is in no condition now to claim, having taken the advantage of the ruling of the court and the chances of a favorable finding upon the question as submitted, that there should be a new trial, so that
There are no exceptions to the rulings upon evidence, presented by counsel for respondent as sustaining the order appealed from, that require notice; and assuming that the rule as applied upon the trial was to the advantage of the defendant, the fact that such a rule was error did not justify the court in granting a new trial.
My conclusion, therefore, is that the order appealed from should be reversed, with costs, and the motion denied, with ten dollars costs • and disbursements.
Yan Brunt, P. J., concurred.
Order affirmed, with costs to the. respondent to abide the event •of the action.