Automobile Ins. Co. v. Teague

32 S.W.2d 824
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedNovember 26, 1930
DocketNo. 1187-5522
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 32 S.W.2d 824 (Automobile Ins. Co. v. Teague) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Automobile Ins. Co. v. Teague, 32 S.W.2d 824 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1930).

Opinion

SHORT, P. J.

In this case there were two applications for writ of error successfully prosecuted, one by [825]*825the plaintiffs in error, the Automobile Insurance Company and the Fire & Marine Underwriters Agency, the two companies being substantially the same, and the other by the Century Insurance Company, Limited, of Edin-burg, Scotland.

The judgment rendered in the Court of Civil Appeals reforms the judgment rendered in the district court, which was in favor of the Chickasaw Lumber Company, a partnership in so mány words, but as well, substantially, also in favor of H. R. -Teague, the original plaintiff, against the plaintiffs in error, jointly and severally, in the sum of ⅜2,-176.70, with interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent, from July 20, 1927, and all costs, so as to make the judgment read in favor of the Chickasaw Lumber Company against the Century Insurance Company for $702.16 and against the plaintiffs in error for $1,474.54. 19 S.W.(2d) 599.

While the pleadings are rather voluminous and the legal questions presented in the applications are somewhat involved, in the view we have taken of the case, as presented by the record, it will only be necessary to give a brief resume of the asserted rights of the several parties. The original suit was instituted by H. R. Teague, the owner of a recently erected dwelling house, which had been partially destroyed by fire, against the plaintiffs in error, who had issued to him, some twenty days before the fire occurred, a fire insurance policy on the dwelling in the sum of $4,200, paying the annual premium due thereon, and also against some other parties, who were afterwards dismissed from the ease, and need not further be mentioned. The Chickasaw Lumber Company, a partnership, which had originally erected the building, and after-wards had repaired it, under a contract to do so at its own expense, having a written lien thereon to secure the payment of the contract price, filed a plea of intervention in which it impleaded the Century Insurance Company.

In the building contract, by virtue of the terms of which the lumber company originally erected the dwelling, and afterwards repaired it when injured by the fire, is a recitation in substance that Teague agreed to keep the improvements insured in the sum of at least $4,000. Evidently in pursuance of this obligation the owner, Teague, took out a policy of insurance during the time the dwelling was being erected, with the plaintiffs in error, in the sum of $2,000, paying the premium thereon, and after the building had been completed, some twenty days bef ore the fire occurred, he had this policy of insurance canceled, and another issued for $4,200, paying the premium due thereon. After the fire had injured the building, its owner, H. R. Teague, submitted proof of his loss to the plaintiffs in error, whose adjuster accepted same, and agreed with the owner upon the amount of loss he had sustained, upon the faith of which the lumber company, in pursuance of its contract, repaired the building and restored it substantially as it had originally been, incurring an expense of about $2,400. Before the plaintiffs in error had finally paid over the money, which its adjuster had agreed it was liable to pay, they discovered for the first time the fact that on the 31st day of March the lumber company had taken out a policy of insurance in the name of the owner and for their benefit, with the Century Insurance Company in the sum of $2,000. This was done without the knowledge on the part of the contractors that the owner had secured insurance on the dwelling, and also without any knowledge on the part of the owner. It appears that all the parties acted in good faith, but in ignorance of what the others had done until the agreement had been reached between the owner and the plaintiffs in error that the latter were liable for the loss and the amount of it.

Both policies of insurance contained this provision: “This entire policy, unless otherwise provided by agreement endorsed hereon or added hereto, shall be void if the insured now has or shall hereafter make or procure any other contract of insurance, whether valid or not, on property covered in whole or in part by this policy.” (Italics ours). The plaintiffs in error, as well as the Century Insurance Company, pleaded the provisions above quoted, claiming that under the undisputed facts, each of said policies was void. The judgment rendered by the trial court recites the fact, the trial having been to the judge without the intervention of the jury, that H. R. Teague and the Chickasaw Lumber Company are entitled to judgment against the plaintiffs in error, and that H. R. Teague is indebted to the Chickasaw Lumber Company for more than the amount of the loss sustained, as well as the fact that the Century Insurance Company was not liable to the lumber company, upon which facts judgment was rendered in favor of the lumber company against the plaintiffs in error for the above named sum, and it was further decreed that. H. R. Teague and the Chickasaw Lumber Company take nothing against the Century Insurance Company. To this judgment the, plaintiffs in error excepted and gave notice of appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals.

At this point, in view of the disposition we think should be made of this case, it is necessary, to state • that the record shows that H. R. Teague, as well as the Chickasaw Lumber Company, and the Century Insurance Company occupied the position, with reference to the plaintiffs in error, of adverse parties, each being adversely interested to the plaintiffs in error in the subject-matter of the judgment, and that in order to perfect their [826]*826appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals, from the judgment rendered against them in the district court, it was incumbent upon the plaintiffs in error that they should execute and have approved, by the clerk of the district court, either on appeal.or supersedeas bond, payable to all adverse parties. The record shows that they executed and had approved a supersedeas bond, but this bond was only made payable to the individual partners composing the partnership of the Chickasaw Eumber Company, and is not made payable either to H. R. Teague, who was declared to have been entitled to have judgment against the plaintiffs in error, by reason of the execution of the insurance policy issued by them to him, or to the Century Insurance Company, whom the plaintiffs in error claimed to be legally obligated to pay its proportional part of the loss to H. R. Teague or the Chickasaw Lumber Company, in the event the policies of insurance issued by the respective insurance companies should be held to be valid obligations. Article 2265 provides that the appellant shall execute a bond to be approved by the clerk payable to the appellee or defendant in error in a sum at least double the probable amount of the cost to be fixed by the clerk, while article 2270 requires the super-sedeas bond, to be made payable to appellee, or defendant in error, in the sum at least double the amount of the judgment, interest and costs. This bond is clearly defective. It would not support an action either by H. R., Teague or the Century Insurance Company. White v. Harris, 85 Tex. 42, 19 S. W. 1077. It was not executed in substantial compliance with the law. Reid v. Fernandez, 52 Tex. 379. In order for an appeal bond or a supersedeas bond to be substantially in compliance with the law, it must be made payable to every party to the judgment, whose interest is adverse to that of the appellants, although the judgment may not, in whole or in part, be in favor of such parties. Harvey v. Cummings, 62 Tex. 186; Young v. Russell, 60 Tex. 684; Greenwade v. Smith, 57 Tex. 195; Ricker v.

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Bluebook (online)
32 S.W.2d 824, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/automobile-ins-co-v-teague-texcommnapp-1930.