Opinion by
The’ subject of - insurance as described in the policy was the plaintiff’s “ two story frame tin roof dwelling.” The policy con
The question then arises whether the plaintiff was bound by it.
The defendant requested the court to charge that under all the evidence, Hughes in applying for the policy was the agent of the plaintiff and not of the company. The court refused the point and in the general charge went further and instructed the jury as matter of law that under the evidence Hughes was not the agent of the plaintiff in this matter. In giving this latter instruction we think that the learned judge fell into error. He thereby withdrew from the consideration of the jury evidence from which they would have been justified in finding that Hughes was acting as the plaintiff’s agent in obtaining the insurance, and assumed that the misrepresentation as to the subject of insurance was his blunder for which the plaintiff w;as in no wise responsible. But Hughes testified that the plaintiff
“ A. I took the distance as near as I could between the buildings, and then the size of the building as Mr. Lennox gave it to me, and I represented it to Mr. Howden. Q. As you saw it? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you say whether it was occupied as a dwelling or not ? A. Mr. Lennox said it was his dwelling. Q. Did you say when you were giving your description that it was occupied? A. I suppose it was, I didn’t know. Q. Well, I am asking you ? A. Represented it to Mr. Howden that it was a dwelling. Q. Did you say it was occupied ? A. Through Mr. Lennox. Q. Did Mr. Lennox tell you it was occupied ? A. Yes, sir; Mr. Lennox said it was his dwelling. Q. Did he say he-lived there? A. I don’t think he did. Q. What do you mean, then, when you say you said it was his dwelling, you mean he owned the house ? A. Owned the house and occupied it. Q. Did he say he occupied it? A. No, he didn’t say that; he said it was his dwelling, and I suppose a married man, he would probably occupy the building. Q. You inferred that he lived in it? A. Yes, sir. Q. But you didn’t know that? A. No, sir. Q. Did you tell Mr. Howden that he lived in it? A. No, I didn’t know whether he did or not; I just told him it was Mr. Lennox’s dwelling, and I supposed it was inside. Q. You described it as a two story tin roof frame dwelling? A. Yes, sir.”
If this testimony be true, — and as to that question the jury were the judges, — this is not the case of an insurance company seeking to cast upon the insured the consequences of the crime or blunder of its own agent. If the plaintiff informed Hughes that the building was his dwelling lie thereby made the latter his agent to represent that as the fact to the insurance company.
But even aside from this testimony was not the defendant entitled to an affirmance of its first point ? We shall consider this question independently of what was said by the Supreme Court when the case was before them; for, as has been suggested, we have no means of knowing that the testimony was the same upon both trials. It appears by all the testimony before us as well as by the express provision of the policy that Hughes was not the company’s agent in soliciting the risk. The
In view of these undisputed facts and the additional fact that the plaintiff accepted and held the policy without objection, we cannot see that it makes any difference in principle whether Hughes solicited the plaintiff to allow him to obtain insurance on his property or the plaintiff solicited him to obtain such insurance. True the plaintiff denies having made any representations to Hughes, and swears that the latter was not his agent. But this is uncontroverted that the result of their negotiations was — and this is the material thing — that the plaintiff authorized Hughes to obtain insurance on his property, leaving him to select the company and to determine the amount of the policy. He obtained the insurance, and the plaintiff accepted and held the policy without objection. These facts being uncontroverted, the plaintiff could not carry the question to the jury by merely swearing that Hughes was not his agent. This was swearing to a conclusion of law. Upon principle, was not Hughes his agent to procure the insurance, and in making the representations he did to the company’s agent as to the character of the building, was he not acting within the scope of his employment? We know there is a class of cases in which it is held that, where an insurance agent employs subagents who go out and solicit risks, he dividing with them his commissions, such subagents are not the agents
We are not prepared to say that the description of the building as a “dwelling” was a warranty that it was an occupied dwelling, as the defendant’s second point would seem to imply: Cumberland Valley Mut. Prot. Co. v. Douglas, 58 Pa. 419; Pottsville Mut. F. Ins. Co. v. Fromm, 100 Pa. 347; Somerset Mut. F. Ins. Co. v. Usaw, 112 Pa. 80. Therefore we cannot sustain the defendant’s third assignment of error. But if a jury should find that at the time the application was made and the policy was issued to the plaintiff and went into force it was not a dwelling house at all but was a feed store, was not the defendant entitled to an instruction that there was a breach of warranty ? The policy provides: “ If an application, survey, plan or description of property be referred to in the policy it shall be a part of this contract and a warranty by the insured.” Under this clause it would seem difficult to avoid the conclusion that the description of the building was a warranty that it was a dwelling which would bind the plaintiff, if Hughes was his agent, and made representations to the company’s agent upon the faith of which the building was so described.
The first and second assignments of error are sustained.
The judgment is reversed and a venire facias de novo awarded.
