Benton v. Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance

26 L.R.A. 237, 60 N.W. 691, 102 Mich. 281, 1894 Mich. LEXIS 1030
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 16, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 26 L.R.A. 237 (Benton v. Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Benton v. Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance, 26 L.R.A. 237, 60 N.W. 691, 102 Mich. 281, 1894 Mich. LEXIS 1030 (Mich. 1894).

Opinion

McGrath, 0. J.

On the 4th of April, 1884,-plaintiff made written application to defendant for insurance upon the following property, and in amounts named:-

[282]*282One dwelling-house............................... $275 00
Contents in same_________________________________ 300 00
One barn........................................ 175 00
Contents in same................................. 300 00
One tool house___________________________________ 75 00
Contents in same................................. 300 00
Stock on said farm, against lightning, in Kent county.......................................... 175 00
Total.........................................§1,600 00

—All situate on section 27, in the township of Bowne. On the same day a policy was issued describing the property as:

One dwelling-house............................... $275 00
On contents in same_____________________________ 300 00
One barn......................................... 175 00
On contents in said barn......................... 300 00
One tool house................................... 75 00
On contents in tool house........................ 300 00
On live stock, against lightning, in Kent county. 175 00
Total.........................................$1,600 00

On January 26, 1889, the defendant executed and delivered to said plaintiff, in pursuance of an application of the same date, a certain other contract of insurance, as follows, to wit:

On one frame granary.............................$100 00
On contents in said granary, or in stacks on farm. 600 00
Total increase...................................$700 00

On April 4, 1884, when said policy was issued, there were a barn and a tool house on said premises, being the ones mentioned in and covered by the policy of insurance of that date; and on the 26th day of January, 1889, there was a fr.ame granary on said premises, being the one mentioned in said contract of .increase. But the plaintiff afterwards considered that said tool house and barn had become unfit or insufficient for his purposes, and in 1891 commenced the erection of a new and larger barn on another part of said farm, which he completed in July, [283]*2831892, and in which he stored his grain from the harvest of 1892, and the tools, or a part of the tools, he then had and used upon said farm; and the new barn and said grain and tools therein stored as aforesaid were the ones destroyed by the fire mentioned in said declaration, which occurred, as therein stated, the 28th day of July, 1892. The old barn and tool house and said granary then stood, and still stand, on said premises, and they had contents therein at the timé of said fire. Plaintiff procured a policy of insurance on the new barn in the German Baptist Mutual Fire Insurance Company for the sum of $1,100, which sum was paid after said fire. Defendant had no notice of the transfer of the tools or the grain to said new barn, or of the erection of said barn; and the plaintiff had no insurance thereon, unless the insurance mentioned in the declaration, and as a part of defendant’s policy of insurance, covered the same. Said barn and its contents were destroyed by fire, caused by lightning, at the date aforesaid.

Plaintiff’s proofs of loss covered unthreshed wheat, hay, and tools and implements, all contained and stored in the new barn. Plaintiff insists that the terms "contents in barn” and "contents in tool house” covered the articles, wherever situate.

The old barn and old tool house were still in use. Plaintiff had obtained another policy, in another company, on the new barn. The policy in this case was not for any given term, but was to continue in force so long as plaintiff continued to pay his assessments and remained a member of the defendant company. The barn risk was a permanent one, but in respect of the contents of the barn and tool house the risk was not limited'to the contents on hand at the date of the policy, but was what is termed a " shifting risk,” and covered substituted property. The only language that can be looked to for a description of the property insured is that specifying its situation.

[284]*284There is a class of cases which hold that the words “contained in” or “being in” or “stored in,” when used in a policy which is not a shifting policy, but which, independently of such terms, sufficiently describes property the use of which necessitates its temporary absence from the building, are considered as further description merely, and as indicating its place of deposit when not temporarily absent in«.the ordinary course.

In Everett v. Insurance Co., 21 Minn. 76, the property was described in the application as “stored in barn on,” etc., and in the policy as a “ threshing machine,” reference being made to the application for a more particular description.

In Holbrook v. Insurance Co., 25 Minn. 229, the property was described as “36 mules, all contained in,” etc.

In McCluer v. Insurance Co., 43 Iowa, 349, a phaeton was destroyed while in a carriage shop for repairs.

In Haws v. Fire Association, 114 Penn. St. 431, certain horses, “all contained in,” etc., were insui’ed under a policy containing a lightning clause. One of the horses was killed by lightning while at pasture in a field on plaintiff’s farm. The court say:

“It is true, in an insurance upon such personal property as household goods or a stock of merchandise, the words 'contained in a’ particular building would seem to imply that the property insured should remain in such building, and that, if removed therefrom, the policy would not cover it. But in such cases the contract contemplates that the property shall remain in the building, and there are obvious reasons why a change of location would afEect the insurance. The very nature of such property implies permanency in its location. But it is not so with a man’s horse. It is of no use to him if kept in a stable. We can understand that if, in. a fire policy, hay, straw, or grain is insured in a barn, the insurance would cease if removed to some other building. Such would be the reasonable meaning of the contract of insurance, and what the parties probably contemplated when they made it. [285]*285But none of this reasoning applies to a lightning clause upon horses or other stock. The terms and conditions to which such an insurance is subject must be such as are reasonably applicable to such kinds of insurance upon this particular species of property, and such, therefore, as the parties may be presumed to have had in view when the contract was made.”

In Peterson v. Insurance Co., 24 Iowa, 494, the policy covered plaintiff’s seven horses, situated on section 22, etc. While marketing his grain, plaintiff put up at an hotel, and placed his team in the hotel barn, and one .of the horses was destroyed by fire.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 L.R.A. 237, 60 N.W. 691, 102 Mich. 281, 1894 Mich. LEXIS 1030, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/benton-v-farmers-mutual-fire-insurance-mich-1894.