Eddy v. London Assur. Corp.

20 N.Y.S. 216, 72 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 307, 48 N.Y. St. Rep. 10
New York Supreme Court·Decided September 15, 1892·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Merwin, J.

The questions upon these appeals relate to the rights of the mortgagee against the insurers. The appellants claim that their right of subrogation has been impaired by the foreclosure and sale; that the mortgagee, by such sale, has put it out of his power to subrogate the insurers to the rights which he had under his securities at the time of the Are, and that, therefore, he cannot recover for the loss. By the mortgagee clause it was provided that, whenever the insurer should pay the mortgagee any sum for loss, and should claim that as to the mortgagor no liability therefor existed, the insurer should, to the extent of such payment, be thereupon legally subrogated to all the rights of the mortgagee, under all securities held as collateral to the mortgage debt, or, at its option, might pay to the mortgagee the whole of the mortgage debt, and thereupon receive a full assignment of the mortgage and all such other securities. It was also provided that no subrogation should impair the right of the mortgagee to recover the full amount of his claim. This permitted the mortgagee to continue the foreclosure proceedings, which were commenced long before the Are, and to apply the proceeds of the sale upon the mortgage debt. In no other way would the right of the mortgagee to recover the full amount of his debt be preserved in accordance with the express stipulation. After the application of such proceeds, there still remained a large deficiency, much more than the entire claim against the insurers. The latter did not offer to pay the mortgage debt, as they might have done, and taken an assignment. The appellants, in substance, claim that, upon payment of the loss, they became owners of an equivalent proportion of the mortgage debt, and would be entitled to the benefit of the same proportion of the proceeds of the securities. This, however, would be inconsistent with the right reserved to the mortgagee to collect the full amount of his [220] claim, and that the subrogation should notimpair it. In Foster v. Van Reed, 70 N. Y. 19, there was a provision in the policy that in case of loss the assured should assign to the insurer an interest in the mortgage equal to the amount of loss paid. The insurer, however, paid the full amount of the mortgage, and therefore no question of importance here was considered. In Lett v. Insurance Co., (Sup.) 5 N. Y. Supp. 526, 125 N. Y. 82, 25 N. E. Rep. 1088, the plaintiff was assignee of the policy, but not.of the mortgage. He represented the owner of the property, but as to the owner the policy was void. The mortgaged property, after the loss, was fully sufficient to pay the entire mortgage debt. It was held that plaintiff could not recover, as he could not give effect to the right of subrogation which the insurer had upon payment of the loss. Many other cases are cited by the counsel for the appellants, but I find none that sustains the position that under a mortgagee clause like the present one the mortgagee could not enforce his securities to the full amount of his debt. His right to do this was superior to the right of subrogation, and so made in express terms.

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Eddy v. London Assur. Corp., 20 N.Y.S. 216, 72 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 307, 48 N.Y. St. Rep. 10 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1892).

20 N.Y.S. 216 (Eddy v. London Assur. Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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