Collins v. USAA Property and Casualty Insurance Co.

580 N.W.2d 55, 1998 Minn. App. LEXIS 709, 1998 WL 312678
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJune 16, 1998
DocketC7-98-63
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 580 N.W.2d 55 (Collins v. USAA Property and Casualty Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collins v. USAA Property and Casualty Insurance Co., 580 N.W.2d 55, 1998 Minn. App. LEXIS 709, 1998 WL 312678 (Mich. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION

LANSING, Judge.

USAA Property and Casualty Company denied Craig and Joanne Collins’ (collectively Collins) claims for property loss. In Collins’ breach-of-contract action against USAA, the jury returned a special verdict finding Collins concealed or misrepresented material facts or circumstances concerning the losses. The district court ruled that the misrepresentations voided their personal property claims, but awarded a judgment of $69,600 plus costs and disbursements for the loss of the building. USAA appeals from the judgment.

FACTS

Craig and Joanne Collins were insured under a USAA property and casualty insurance policy. On May 28,1995, Collins discovered that the building had been broken into and personal property and dwelling fixtures had been removed. A few days later, on June 6, 1995, the building was completely destroyed by fire.

Collins submitted sworn statements in proof of loss dated June 26, 1996 — one for losses from the break-in and one for losses from the fire. USAA denied the claims, and Collins brought this breach of contract action. The jury found that the personal prop *56 erty losses from the fire amounted to $3,000 rather than the more than $30,000 listed in Collins’ sworn loss statements. The jury further found that Collins misrepresented the personal property losses in both the May 1995 theft and June 1995 fire, with the intent and purpose of deceiving USAA of material facts and circumstances.

Based on the insurance policy and the Minnesota standard fire insurance policy set forth in Minn.Stat. § 65A.01, subd. 3 (1994), the district court declared that the misrepresentations voided Collins’ claim for loss of personal property from the theft and the fire but not for the building. Relying on Minn. Stat. § 65A.08 (1994), Minnesota’s Valued Policy Law, the district court entered judgment for $69,600 plus costs and disbursements for loss of the building.

In a rule 60 motion, USAA argued that the district court’s judgment on the building loss contravened the insurance policy, Minnesota Standard Fire Insurance Policy provisions, and the Minnesota Valued Policy Law. USAA appeals the denial of its motion.

ISSUE

Did the district court err in determining that the intentional material representations of. personal property loss after the June 1995 fire voided coverage for personal property but not the building loss caused by the sanie fire?

ANALYSIS

Interpretation of an insurance policy and its application to the facts of the case are both questions of law, reviewed de novo. Watson v. United Services Auto. Ass’n., 566 N.W.2d 683, 688 (Minn.1997). The jury found that Collins willfully, and with intent to defraud, concealed a material fact about their insurance coverage both on their claims for the 1995 theft and the property loss for the 1995 fire. The question presented for our review is whether that finding, not challenged on appeal, voids coverage not only for the property loss itself but also for the loss to the building.

The insurance contract between USAA and Collins contains the following Minnesota Special Provisions:

SECTIONS I AND II — CONDITIONS

2. Concealment or Fraud. The entire policy will be void if an insured has:

a. before a loss, willfully; or
b. after a loss, willfully and with intent to defraud;
concealed or misrepresented any material fact or circumstance relating to this insurance.

Form HO-MN, Ed. 5-91. This provision is consistent with a similar provision in the Minnesota Standard Fire Insurance Policy that reads as follows:

This entire policy shall be void if, whether before a loss, the insured has willfully, or after a loss, the insured has willfully and with intent to defraud, concealed or misrepresented any material fact or circumstance concerning this insurance or the subject thereof, or the interests of the insured therein.

Minn.Stat. § 65A01, subd. 3.

Based on this language, USAA asserts that because Collins made false claims with respect to personal property, the policy is void for all purposes. See Hamberg v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 68 Minn. 335, 339, 71 N.W. 388, 389 (1897) (“willful false swearing” as to any material article of insurance policy prevents insured from recovering under whole policy); see also Bahr v. Union Fire Ins. Co., 167 Minn. 479, 481, 209 N.W. 490, 491 (1926) (“any attempt to defraud the insurer by the insured voids the policy, even though that attempt be abortive, or did not influence ⅝ * * the insurer”).

The district court concluded that Collins’ misrepresentations voided coverage for personal property losses resulting from the break-in and the fire, but analyzed their claim for the building loss separately. Relying on National Surety Corp. v. Michigan Fire & Marine Ins. Co., the court determined that Collins’ right to recover for the building loss vested on the day it burned down. 59 F.Supp. 493, 498 (D.Minn.1944), ajfd sub nom Michigan Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. National Surety Corp., 156 F.2d 329, *57 333 (8th Cir.1946). Consequently, the district court reasoned, Collins’ subsequent misrepresentations of their personal property losses did not affect Collins’ vested right to recover for loss of the dwelling. See id. (because insured party’s rights under Minnesota’s standard fire insurance policy mature at time of loss, fraud as to second, unrelated claim cannot be retroactively applied to void coverage for first loss). The court concluded that Collins was entitled to the full insurance value of the building because the jury affirmatively found the fire was not intentionally set, that Collins had not misrepresented the building loss, and the amount of the building loss was predetermined by the amount stated in the policy. The court applied Minnesota’s Valued Policy Law to enter a judgment of $69,600 as a matter of law. See Minn.Stat. § 65A.08 (in absence of intentional fraud, insurer shall pay whole amount mentioned in policy or renewal in case of total loss).

We agree that National Surety Corp. interpreted a fraud provision much like the provision at issue between Collins and USAA. See 59 F.Supp. at 497 (“The policy shall be void * * * if the insured shall make any attempt to defraud the company either before or after the loss.”). But the claims are factually and legally distinguishable. Unlike National Surety Corp., involving three separate claims — two legitimate and one for a fire that was set intentionally — this appeal centers on a single claim for all losses incurred during the June 6, 1995, fire.

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Bluebook (online)
580 N.W.2d 55, 1998 Minn. App. LEXIS 709, 1998 WL 312678, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-usaa-property-and-casualty-insurance-co-minnctapp-1998.