Douville v. Pacific Coast Casualty Co.

138 P. 506, 25 Idaho 396, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 10
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 2, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 138 P. 506 (Douville v. Pacific Coast Casualty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Douville v. Pacific Coast Casualty Co., 138 P. 506, 25 Idaho 396, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 10 (Idaho 1914).

Opinion

SULLIVAN, J.

This action was brought to recover on a contract of insurance against accident. It appears that the plaintiff fell from the roof of a building upon which he was at work and was so badly injured that he was prevented from laboring for more than nine months. It is not questioned but that the injuries suffered by the respondent were of such a nature as would entitle him to recover had he complied with the terms of his contract, but the action was defended solely upon the ground that the plaintiff had failed to comply with the requirements of the policy.

The case was tried by the court without a jury and judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff for the sum of $270, or at the rate of $30 per month for nine months, as provided by the policy. The appeal is from the judgment.

The only error specified is that the court erred in overruling defendant’s motion for a nonsuit, which was interposed at the close of plaintiff’s testimony, and the defendant offered no evidence whatever.

It is contended by counsel for appellant that under the contract of insurance it was obligatory upon the plaintiff to give written notice of his injuries, which he failed to do; and it is contended by counsel for respondent that appellant waived notice of the injury by its subsequent conduct in the *401 following particulars, to wit: (1) It received and retained the proofs furnished by the plaintiff without objection; (2). It demanded further information and additional proofs; (3) It required the insured, after the accident and notice thereof, to have respondent’s physician make further reports; (4) It never questioned its liability upon the ground that notice was not given as required by the contract of insurance, but attempted to question its liability upon the ground that the physician of the respondent had failed to make the reports required by the provisions of the insurance contract.

The proof of injury was not furnished within the ten days required by the insurance contract, but it is shown that the notice was furnished at a time subsequent and that the insurance company had full notice of the injury; that such proof of injury so furnished was retained by the appellant without objection that it came too late, -but appellant demanded further and additional proofs.

We think that this action, of the company constituted a waiver, as the company had full notice of the injury and of the condition of the plaintiff for a number of months while he was under the care of a physician because of such injury. (Standard Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Davis, 59 Kan. 521, 53 Pac. 856; Wildey Casualty Co. v. Sheppard, 61 Kan. 351, 59 Pac. 651, 47 L. R. A. 650; Holm v. Inter-State Casualty Co. of N. Y., 115 Mich. 79, 72 N. W. 1105; Moore v. Wildey Casualty Co., 176 Mass. 418, 57 N. E. 673.)

It appears that the physician’s report was not satisfactory to the appellant and it asked him to furnish an additional report, which he did. This requirement on the part of the appellant seems inconsistent with the claim that notice was not given as required by the policy. If the appellant was going to stand on the ground that the notice had not been given as required by the insurance contract, it certainly would not have asked for an additional report from the physician. We think by its action herein it waived any defense it may have had because of the failure to give notice of the injury within the time required by the policy. (Sheanon v. Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co., 83 Wis. 507, 53 N. W. 878; Trippe *402 v. Provident Fund Soc., 140 N. Y. 23, 37 Am. St. 529, 35 N. E. 316, 22 L. R. A. 432.)

It appears from the evidence that the agent of the company-had received the proofs of the accident two days after the accident, and that he was treated as the agent of appellant, having authority to receive such proofs, and that thereupon the company investigated the matter by seeking advice in reference to the case both from respondent’s physician and from respondent himself, as well as from appellant’s agent, Badger.

It was held in Travelers’ Ins. Co. of Hartford v. Edwards, 122 U. S. 457, 7 Sup. Ct. 1249, 30 L. ed. 1178, that such acts constituted a waiver by an insurance company.

It appears that the appellant denied liability upon the ground that proper proof as to the condition of the respondent by his physician was not furnished from time to time, and not upon the ground that it had not received notice of the accident within the time required by the policy. We think this constituted a waiver.

In Lampkin v. Travelers’ Ins. Co., 11 Colo. App. 249, 52 Pac. 1040, it is held that proof of loss is waived by refusal to pay accident insurance on the ground that there was misrepresentation in obtaining the policy. Counsel for appellant, however, contends that the waiver of proof of loss is not in issue in this case, and cites Aronson v. Frankfort Accident & Plate Glass Ins. Co., 9 Cal. App. 473, 99 Pac. 537. In that ease the objection was made by counsel for the company to evidence adduced on the trial on behalf of the insured tending to show a waiver whereas he had pleaded compliance with the policy.

The case at bar presents an entirely different proposition. The proof of waiver was introduced by the appellant itself, when, on cross-examination of respondent’s witnesses, the appellant introduced numerous letters showing the waiver by the company. The appellant, having introduced this evidence, is not in a position to claim that the proof of the waiver of notice was improperly admitted, it having introduced such evidence on its behalf, and it certainly will not be heard to *403 say that there was no waiver when its own evidence shows that there was. An amended complaint could have been made to show such waiver, but it became unnecessary to amend the pleadings when the proof introduced by the appellant obviated that necessity. It is one of the plain rules of pleading and procedure that the failure to object to evidence at the time it is offered is a waiver of the objection that it is not admissible under the pleadings. (McCarthy v. Phelan, 132 Cal. 404, 64 Pac. 570; Stockton Combined Harvester etc. Works v. Glens Falls Ins. Co., 121 Cal. 167, 53 Pac. 565; Lawlor v. Kemper, 20 Mont. 13, 49 Pac. 398.)

It was held in Moore v. Campbell, 72 Cal. 251, 13 Pac. 689, that if the evidence offered is not objected to, the party presenting it is entitled to the benefit of any cause of action or defense established thereby. The court said: “The answer might have been, and perhaps should have been, amended at the trial, but as the case was tried upon it without objection as to its sufficiency, and the findings and decision were justified by the evidence, the order refusing a new trial should now, we think, be affirmed.” (Feidler v. Motz, 42 Kan. 519, 22 Pac. 561.)

In Guley v. Northwestern Coal & Transp. Co., 7 Wash. 491, 35 Pac.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
138 P. 506, 25 Idaho 396, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/douville-v-pacific-coast-casualty-co-idaho-1914.