156 Mich. 545 | Mich. | 1909
(after stating the facts). It will be observed that the personal property is not described otherwise than by its location. The contents of a barn or of barns, on a farm, unlike the barn or barns, are not permanent, and the risk assumed by the insurer is not limited to the contents at the time the policy is issued. It is the general rule that place and location are of the essence of a risk, especially when the property insured is not described otherwise than by location. The policy in question differs slightly from the one considered in Benton v. Insurance Co., 102 Mich. 281 (26 L. R. A. 237). That policy described “onebarn” and, in a separate item, “on contents in said barn.” It described “one toolhouse,” and, separately, “on contents in toolhouse.” Plaintiff built a new barn, and in it he stored grain and tools. This barn and its contents were destroyed by fire. It was held that the contents of the barn were not within the protection furnished by the policy. There is no intimation, however, in the opinion, and none in the numerous cases cited, sustaining the proposition that, if tools actually in the insured barn when the policy was issued had been for convenience placed in the insured toolhouse and had been there destroyed by fire, the owner could not have recovered for them as for contents of the toolhouse. So, under the provisions of the policy in suit, there can be no doubt that the risk covered at the time of the fire the contents of any of the barns described in the policy wherever they may have been situated when the policy was issued, and however much they may have changed by use, replacement, and season.
But when it is attempted to extend the risk to the contents of one or of several other barns, not in existence when the policy was issued, the case is brought within the rule of Benton v. Insurance Co., unless the defendant is estopped to demand the application of the rule. If it is estopped, it is because it consented, in substance and effect, that the property destroyed should be, in the new and uninsured building, considered as contents of barn
We reach the conclusion that the court was not in error in refusing to direct a verdict for defendant.
The judgment is affirmed.