Cohn v. New Jersey Fidelity & Plate Glass Insurance

244 Ill. App. 123, 1927 Ill. App. LEXIS 142
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 29, 1927
DocketGen. No. 31,234
StatusPublished

This text of 244 Ill. App. 123 (Cohn v. New Jersey Fidelity & Plate Glass Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cohn v. New Jersey Fidelity & Plate Glass Insurance, 244 Ill. App. 123, 1927 Ill. App. LEXIS 142 (Ill. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Fitch

delivered the opinion of the court.

This suit is brougnt on a burglary insurance policy. The defendant insurance company denies that the loss claimed is covered by its policy. After a trial without a jury, the trial court agreed with defendant’s theory and entered a finding and judgment against the plaintiff, who appeals.

Plaintiff is a pawnbroker. In 1924 he had in his possession diamonds, watches and jewelry pledged for loans made by him, and worth approximately $75,000, and in addition he usually carried similar merchandise of his own, worth approximately $50,000. All this property he kept at night in two large safes, the walls of which were fireproof, consisting of an outer plate of steel less than half an inch thick, an inner plate of steel less than a quarter of an inch in thickness, and, between these steel plates, a fireproof filling several inches thick similar to concrete. The outer door of each safe was five inches thick, having a thin steel plate outside and along the edges of the door, inclosing a similar fireproof filling. Inside each of the safes was built a burglar-proof steel chest or compartment approximately a cubic foot in interior dimensions, having a steel door two and one-half inches thick and a combination lock. It appears from the evidence that insurance men and manufacturers of safes use different terms to designate the three types of safes in common use. One type, which is built entirely of steel and found only in banks, is designated by them as “burglar-proof.” Another type, designated as “fire and burglar-proof,” is a safe which has “a fireproof jacket with a burglar-proof chest inside.” This is the type of safes which plaintiff had. The third type, designated only as “fireproof,” has a fireproof covering and has no burglar-proof compartment. The evidence further shows that the premium rate for burglary insurance upon goods kept in “burglar-proof” safes is very much less than upon the same goods when kept in “fire and burglar-proof” safes.

In February, 1924, defendant executed and delivered to plaintiff the insurance policy on which this suit is brought. The photographic copy of the policy in the record shows that a printed form was used in which, between an opening paragraph and a number of printed “General Agreements” regarding notices, proofs of loss, etc., there was a blank space containing only the printed legend “ (Attach Eider Here).” The opening paragraph states, in substance, that defendant, in consideration of “a stated premium, agrees to indemnify the plaintiff in the total sum of $50,000' for 12 months from February 26,1924. The kind and character of losses included in this indemnity agreement are particularly specified, and are only specified, in two riders, each with a special indorsement attached to it, which are pasted in the blank space mentioned.

The first rider provides for indemnity to the extent of $25,000, for losses occasioned by robbery, “commonly known as ‘Hold-up,’ ” from within the office or counting-room or store of the assured, of any of the property scheduled in that rider, which is labeled “Office Hold-up Eider.” There is no claim in this case for any loss under that rider or its special indorsement.

The second rider, attached immediately under the first, is the one under which a loss is claimed in this case. This rider is also a printed form, with blanks filled in with a typewriter. In the lower left-hand corner of the first page of this rider are printed the words: “SAFE BIDEB.” It begins as follows:

“For All Loss of money in current use, negotiable Securities (as hereinafter defined), uncancelled United States Government Post Office or Bevenue Stamps, and merchandise described in the Schedule hereinafter contained, and therein stated to be insured hereunder, in consequence of the felonious abstraction of the same by burglars from the interior of the safe or safes described in the said Schedule and located in the office or storeroom actually occupied by the Assured and described in said Schedule, and hereinafter called the premises, by such burglars who shall have made entry into such safe or safes by the use of tools, explosives, electricity or chemicals directly thereupon, of which force and violence there shall be visible marks on the exterior thereof.”

Then follows a series of printed “Special Agreements,” of which such parts as are material to the question here involved are as follows:

“A. The Company’s liability is limited to the amount of insurance applicable to the contents of the several safes respectively as stated in Statement 6 of the Schedule, and also to the amounts attached to the several items respectively of Statement 5 of the Schedule, and subject to such limits as respects each safe and each item, the total liability hereunder is limited to the sum of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,-000.00). .
“B. The Company shall not be liable. * * * (9) For loss of any property under insurance attaching specifically to Items B or D of Statement 5 of the Schedule, unless the same shall have been feloniously abstracted from the burglar-proof part of the safe described in the Schedule after entry into the said burglar-proof part shall have been gained by the use of tools or explosives directly upon the said burglarproof part as well as upon the fire-proof part, if any, of said safe. * * *
“C. The term ‘burglar-proof’ as applied in this Policy to a safe or to a part of a safe shall be understood to mean such safe or such part of a safe as is constructed of steel and is designed by the safe manufacturers to furnish protection against burglars and styled by them burglar-proof. A safe, chest or compartment of a safe shall not be considered burglarproof, unless it shall have steel walls at least one inch in thickness, and unless the steel in the door or doors thereof shall be at least one and one-half inches in thickness, exclusive of bolt work.”

After these special agreements follows the “Schedule,” consisting of 15 consecutively numbered “statements.” Statement 5 of the schedule is subdivided into Items A, B, C, D and E, and statement 6 contains 16 tabulated items, beginning with the letter “(a)” and ending with the letter “ (p) ”.

Statement 4 of the schedule is as follows:

“4. The merchandise insured under this policy consists of merchandise usual to the business.”

Statement 5 is as follows, so far as it is applicable in this case:

“5. The insurance granted by this policy attaches specifically as follows:
* * * “Premium.
“Item B. In amount of $25,000.00 to merchandise as described in statement 4 in burglar-proof safe or in burglar-proof part of fire and burglar-proof safe Nos. 1 & 2. $88.00”

Statement 6 of the schedule, so far as applicable here, is as follows:

“6. The safe or safes are described and designated as follows:

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The words “See End,” opposite Item (o) in the schedule, refer to the special indorsement pasted on the front of the “Safe Rider.” That indorsement reads as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
244 Ill. App. 123, 1927 Ill. App. LEXIS 142, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cohn-v-new-jersey-fidelity-plate-glass-insurance-illappct-1927.