Farmers Bank v. Manchester Assurance Co.

80 S.W. 299, 106 Mo. App. 114, 1904 Mo. App. LEXIS 332
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 1, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 80 S.W. 299 (Farmers Bank v. Manchester Assurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Farmers Bank v. Manchester Assurance Co., 80 S.W. 299, 106 Mo. App. 114, 1904 Mo. App. LEXIS 332 (Mo. Ct. App. 1904).

Opinion

REYBURN, J.

(after stating the facts). — 1. The position of defendant in this case and the theory of the defense presented were that the plaintiffs set forth in their complaint one cause of action and were permitted to recover upon proof of a cause of action entirely different from that pleaded; that the contract averred by plaintiff was especially an absolute promise to pay the sums of money therein specified, while the evidence relied on, namely, the insurance policy, exhibited a conditional contract. In the admissions of fact made, the right was reserved of objecting to the admission of any such facts in evidence, and they were subject to the right of defendant to object to any of them when offered in evidence under the pleadings, in the same manner as defendant would have the right of objection if the facts were testified to on the stand, and the objection to the evidence as the trial progressed was reiterated that it- was inadmissible under the pleadings, as the contract sued on was unconditional as averred; whilst the contract issued by the company was conditional and different, and exceptions were duly saved. One of the foundations relied, on to uphold this contention of a departure in the proof, was that the , policy specified the two individual plaintiffs as the insured, while the slip [123]*123designated in the argument as a “rider,” attached to the policy, made the plaintiff bank payee of the proceeds of the policy insofar as its mortgage indebtedness was unpaid; that an analysis of the transaction between the parties would evince that the defendant obligated itself by insuring the two natural persons plaintiffs; but at their request merely assented, in event of loss, to pay the corporate plaintiff to the extent of any sum then unpaid on its secured note. Appellant further argued, with force and emphasis, that the allegation that defendant, by its policy of insurance, insured plaintiffs is not sustained by the evidence of the actual contract, whereby defendant specifically insured but two of the three plaintiffs, and the third plaintiff was not embraced in the primary contract of insurance as well as no party thereto, nor was it obligated by any of the policy provisions, but merely made payee of fruits of a loss under the policy to the amount of his debt, if the latter, at time of happening of a fire, had not been wholly otherwise paid; and the amended pleading was further dissected, illustrative of inaccurate allegations throughout, in describing the proportion of insurance upon the personalty as one thousand dollars upon their (i. e. the three plaintiffs), property and the like.

The conditions and provisions contained in the so-called rider, are to be considered as constituting part of the policy to the same extent and with like effect as if embodied therein (Crigler v. Ins. Co., 49 Mo. App. 11); and that the policy, although the amount of insurance was apportioned in part to personalty, and in part to realty, created but a single cause of action has been expressly affirmed in the case of Rissler v. Ins. Co., 150 Mo. 366. It is also equally clear that the interest insured was that of the individual plaintiffs and not of the corporation, and the bank was merely appointed at desire of the assured, payee of the fund accruing in event of loss, to the extent of any balance then remaining unpaid on the note, but the bank was collaterally bound by [124]*124the stipulations of the policy, and any action’of the insured -which would have operated to defeat the claim on the policy, was equally available by the company against the bank, whose rights were derivative under its co-plaintiffs. It is, therefore, apparent that the bank and the assured were properly made joint plaintiffs in the action on the policy. Carberry, Admr., v. German Insurance Co., 86 Wis. 323; Williamson v. Michigan Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 86 Wis. 393. While the pleading censured is vulnerable to the charge of inaccuracies, yet surveyed as a whole the relations of the three parties plaintiff sufficiently appear. Nor is the objection tenable that there was a departure from the complaint in the proof, as the evidence introduced by plaintiff, especially the policy, tended to establish a qualified agreement, whilst the petition averred an absolute contract. The rule of construction applicable to a pleading is varied by the stage of the ease at which the petition, answer or reply may be considered', while the pleading is more rigidly construed before verdict, a relaxed and more favorable rule obtains after verdict, and every reasonable intendment is then brought to aid the pleading assailed. The language of the statute and its interpretation by the courts alike sanction and contemplate such principle of interpretation. “But after issue joined, trial and verdict, the court will not construe the petition most strictly against the pleader, but the pleading will be liberally construed, with a view to substantial justice.” Oglesby v. Missouri Pacific Railway Co., 150 Mo. 137; R. S. 1899, sec. 2074. If, however, the appellant deemed the variance between the averments in the petition and the proof tendered material, or if it was misled thereby to its prejudice in maintaining its defense, the statute designated the proper remedy in section 655, and it has been held in a series of cases, that where a variance between the allegations and proof is charged, the objecting party must adopt the course indi[125]*125cated by above section or the objection will not be considered on appeal.

“The sole contention made by the defendant in this case is that the allegata and probata do not correspond, and therefore it is insisted that npon the pleadings and proof the judgment must be for the defendant.

“It has always been the law that the allegata and probata must correspond (1 Greenl., Ev. (16 Ed.), sec. 63, p. 827; Rutledge v. Railroad, 110 Mo. 312). That a party can not declare upon one cause of action and recover upon another, is axiomatic in our law (Cabanne v. Skinker, 56 Mo. 357; Clements v. Yeates, 69 Mo. 623; Reed v. Bott, 100 Mo. 62; Haynes v. Trenton, 108 Mo. 123; Johnson-Brinkman Co. v. Bank, 116 Mo. 558). But it is also equally well settled in our State that timely and appropriate objection must be made to the introduction of the evidence offered on the distinct ground of a variance between the allegata and probata, and that the objecting party must proceed in the manner provided by section 2096, Revised Statutes 1889, otherwise his objection will not be considered (Briggs v. Munchon, 56 Mo. 467; Ely v. Porter, 58 Mo. 158).

“And the affidavit setting forth in what respect a party has been misled is the sole test of the materiality of a discrepancy between the allegata and probata (Turner v. Railroad, 51 Mo. 501; Meyer v. Chambers, 68 Mo. 626; Olmstead v. Smith, 87 Mo. 602). If a party fails to avail himself of section 2096, supra, in the trial court, it is too late to complain in the appellate court (Fisher v. Max, 49 Mo. 404; Brown v. Railroad, 50 Mo. 461; Clements v. Maloney, 55 Mo. 352; Ridenhour v. Railroad, 102 Mo. 270; Mellor v. Railroad, 105 Mo. 455; Bank v. Leyser, 116 Mo. 51).” Fisher & Co. R. E. Co. v. Realty Co., 159 Mo. loc. cit. 566.

The precise question here urged by appellant has been before this court in Heffernan v. Supreme Council American Legion of Honor, 40 Mo. App. 605, where the language of the court was as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
80 S.W. 299, 106 Mo. App. 114, 1904 Mo. App. LEXIS 332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farmers-bank-v-manchester-assurance-co-moctapp-1904.