Hannan v. Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance

9 L.R.A. 127, 45 N.W. 1120, 81 Mich. 556, 1890 Mich. LEXIS 788
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJune 27, 1890
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 9 L.R.A. 127 (Hannan v. Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hannan v. Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance, 9 L.R.A. 127, 45 N.W. 1120, 81 Mich. 556, 1890 Mich. LEXIS 788 (Mich. 1890).

Opinion

Cahill, J.

This action is brought upon a contract of insurance, in which the property is described as follows:

“One two-story frame building and additions thereto, with shingle roof, occupied by assured as a dwelling, situate on the south side of, and known as No. 72, Winder St., Detroit, Michigan, including the foundations, gas and water pipes and fixtures, and all permanent fixtures for heating and lighting, as part of the building.”

[557]*557On April 20, 1889, a fire occurred on the plaintiff’s premises, by which loss occurred to the plaintiff amounting to $1,769.64. Of this amount $873 was appraised for damages to the building north of a certain line shown on the diagram, and $896.64 for damages to the building south of the same line. No question is raised by the defendant as to the .right of the plaintiff to recover the first amount, but it was claimed that the laBt amount could not be recovered, because that sum covered damages to the rear part of the building, which was used as a barn, and that the policy did not cover it. This is the sole question in the case. A diagram of the first floor of the building will be found on page 558.

The plaintiff, being called as a witness, described the building as follows:

“As you enter, there is'a hall running from the front door back to the dining-room. On the right-hand side as you enter there is a drawing-room. On the left-hand side is the sitting-room, and the sitting-room is connected with the library room by arches. This does not exactly show it there. Here is the fire-place, and there is an arch on each side of the fire-place. Going through the hall you come directly into the dining-room, and to the right of the dining-room is our kitchen. In the rear of the kitchen is a back hall, which leads both to the laundry and to our wood-shed, and an exit out to this court, where the clothes are dried, and then to John E. street. There is also an entrance from this court into the stable and carriage-house, and there was an old entrance through the coal and wood shed into ¿he stable there, but afterwards we closed that up, and used the outside entrance entirely.”

The proofs also show that the partition between the room marked “coal and wood” and the room marked “ carriage-house ” was a single row of studding. It was not lathed or plastered on either side, but was boarded with plain boards, not siding. It was framed in with the rest of the building. The partition between the part [559]*559of the building marked "kitchen” and "dining-room” And the part marked "laundry” was also single, though this was lathed and plastered. It is not possible to take Away the room that was called the "carriage-house” without taking away the partition between it and the room called "coal and wood room.” There were bedrooms above the main part of the building. The portion above the laundry was a store-room. The girl's room was above the kitchen. The hired man's sleeping-room was above the portion marked " carriage-house.” The man's room was furnished the same as any bedroom in any portion of the house. It had gas, a speaking tube, and everything just as the rest of the house. The gas-pipes connected with the rest of the house. The hired man was also a house-servant. He did general work about the house, and waited upon the ladies of the house. He took his meals at the house. The manner of occupancy at the time of taking the insurance and at the time of the fire was the same. On the first floor of the portion marked " carriage-house ” plaintiff kept two horses and three vehicles, — a carriage, a phaeton, and a cart. He had formerly kept a cow. There was a private alley at the rear of the building, in which was a box into which the sweepings from the carriage-house were thrown. The partition that was between the portion marked " coal and wood ” and the portion marked " carriage-house ” did not extend above the first floor, so that there was no partition in the second story between these portions; it was one room.

[558]

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Bluebook (online)
9 L.R.A. 127, 45 N.W. 1120, 81 Mich. 556, 1890 Mich. LEXIS 788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hannan-v-williamsburgh-city-fire-insurance-mich-1890.