Fidelity Union Casualty Co. v. Hammock

5 S.W.2d 812, 1928 Tex. App. LEXIS 395
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 12, 1928
DocketNo. 9122.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 5 S.W.2d 812 (Fidelity Union Casualty Co. v. Hammock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fidelity Union Casualty Co. v. Hammock, 5 S.W.2d 812, 1928 Tex. App. LEXIS 395 (Tex. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

LANE, J.

On May 15, 1926, William F. Hammock was an employee of Aycoek <& Poole, a copartnership, who were subscribers *813 under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of the State of Texas (Rev. St. 1925, art. 8306 et seq.). On said date 'Aycock & Poole held a policy issued by the Fidelity Union Casualty Company which by its terms indemnified Ay-cock & Poole against loss by reason of injuries which might be suffered by their employees while engaged in and about the furtherance of the business of their employers. On said 15th day of May, William Hammock received injuries from which he died, leaving surviving him his father, M. C. Hammock, and his mother, Susie Hammock.

In due time, and after due notice, the parents of the deceased presented their claim for compensation to the Industrial Accident Board of this state. On the 1st day of February, 1927, said board made an award directing the Fidelity Union Casualty Company to pay certain compensation to M. O. and Susie Hammock on account of the fatal injury received by their son, William Hammock. In due time the casualty company gave notice in writing to the Industrial Accident Board that it was not satisfied with the award made, and within twenty days after the giving of such notice it filed suit in the district court of Anderson county, Tex., to set aside the award, final ruling, and decision of said Accident Board.

Hammock and wife answered and alleged facts constituting a cause of action against the casualty company, which, if proven, would entitle them to judgment. They alleged that they, were -poor people, dependent upon their daily wages and manual labor for support, that they were without funds, that the expenses incurred by them incident to the injury, sickness, and death of their son had put them in great financial strain, etc.; and they prayed for a lump sum settlement. The sum prayed for was $7 per week for 360 weeks, beginning on the 15th day of May, 1926, together with the interest thereon. They also prayed that their attorney be allowed one-fourth the amount to be recovered, or such sum as the court deemed fit and proper.

By supplemental petition the casualty company denied generally the allegations of the answer of Hammock and wife.

A jury was waived, and the cause was tried before the court. Judgment was rendered, denying the prayer of the casualty company and adjudging that Hammock and wife recover jointly from the casualty company the sum of $1,794.40, with interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum from date of judgment, and that Butler, Prices & Maynor, defendants’ attorneys, recover from the casualty company the sum of $598.-10. From such judgment the casualty company has appealed.

The policy sued upon was issued to Ay-cock & Poole- on the 24th day of May, 1925, •The names of the persons composing the firm were stated in the policy as A. M. Aycock and R. H. Poole. It was shown that A. M. Aycock died in 1923 and left surviving him his widow and several children; that by agreement between, Poole and the heirs of A. M. Aycock the business of the firm was continued under the firm name of Aycock & Poole, and was so conducted under such name at the time the policy sued upori was issued.

By its first proposition appellant contends that, since A. M. Aycock was dead at the time of the issuance of the policy, the policy as .issued was unenforceable against appellant, because upon the death of A. M. Aycock the firm of Aycock & Poole was by law dissolved and ended, and there was no such firm in existence, and hence there were no persons employed by such $rm to be covered by the policy.

We think appellant’s contention should be overruled. After the death of A. M. Aycock, Mrs. Aycock, the widow, and the other heirs of A. M. Aycock, had the right and authority to agree with R. H. Poole, the surviving partner of the firm of Aycock & Poole, that their shares in the firm property might continue to be used by the partnership and the business of the firm continued under the original firm name. 20 R. C. L. § 226, p. 990; Walker et al. v. W. J. Miller, 139 N. C. 448, 52 S. E. 125, 1 L. R. A. (N. S.) 157, 111 Am. St. Rep. 805, 4 Ann. Cas. 601; Merchants’ Ins. Co. v. Bonnet (Tex. Civ. App.) 42 S. W. 316; Id. (Tex. Civ. App.) 48 S. W. 1110.

It will be noted that appellant makes no contention that the policy should be held void because of any false or fraudulent rép-resentation in its procurement, which would be material to the risk it assumed. It seeks to avoid liability only upon the contention that the policy is void because by its terms it was to cover only the employees of Aycock & Poole, a copartnership composed of ,A. M. Aycock and R. H. Poole, and that, as there was no such partnership, the policy covered no employees.

It is clear, we think, that it was the intention of appellant in the issuance of the policy to cover the employees of the business managed by R. H. Poole, known by the name of Aycock & Poole, and that it was not concerned as to who, in fact, composed the partnership. The case of Bonnet v. Ins. Co., above cited, was one in which Bonnet procured a policy of insurance issued to Bonnet Bros, covering a certain stock of goods, of which he was the sole owner. The goods were destroyed by fire, and Bonnet brought the suit against the insurer upon the policy. Bonnet alleged that, while the policy was issued in the name of Bonnet Bros., he was in fact at all times the sole owner of the goods insured and the sole and only member of the firm- named. The insurance company urged exceptions to the petition on the ground that it showed on its face that Bonnet had con *814 cealed his interest in the property insured, and that by the terms of the policy-it was null and void on account of such concealment.

The facts of that case, as shown in the decision reported in Merchants’ Ins. Co. v. Bonnet (Tex. Civ. App.) 48 S. W. 1110, are that at one time Rafael Bonnet, the plaintiff, and his brother, W. A. Bonnet, were partners under the firm' name of Bonnet Bros., but that W. A. Bonnet had withdrawn from the firm,, though the business was continued under the firm name of Bonnet Bros. It was provided in the policy that it should be void if the insured had concealed or misrepresented any material fact concerning the insurance or the subject thereof, or if the interest of the insured in the property be not truly stated in the policy. In deciding that case Judge Fly, speaking for the San Antonio court in 42 S. W. 316, said:

“We are of the opinion that the allegations of the petition do not bring the case of appellant within the purview of the language quoted. There is no statute of this state that prohibits the use of firm names which fail to indicate the members of the partnership, and appellant had the right to do business for himself under a firm name, if he so desired, and the right to insure his property in that firm name. His representation that the property belonged to Bonnet Bros, 'was correct, at the same time that he owned the entire interest in the goods. The misrepresentation as to a- fact that would vitiate the contract must have been as to something material.”

In Walker v. Miller, supra, it is said:

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Bluebook (online)
5 S.W.2d 812, 1928 Tex. App. LEXIS 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fidelity-union-casualty-co-v-hammock-texapp-1928.