Hanover Fire Insurance v. B. C. Lewis & Sons

28 Fla. 209
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1891
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 28 Fla. 209 (Hanover Fire Insurance v. B. C. Lewis & Sons) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hanover Fire Insurance v. B. C. Lewis & Sons, 28 Fla. 209 (Fla. 1891).

Opinion

Tayloe, J. :

On the 15th of August, 1885, George Lewis, Edward Lewis and William C. Lewis, styling themselves as partners under the firm name of B. C. Lewis & Sons, instituted their action in assumpsit in the Circuit Court of Leon county against the Hanover Fire Insurance Company, a Corporation of the State of New York, having an agency at Tallahassee, in Leon county, for the recovery of one-half of the amount of a policy of insurance for $5,000, issued to them on April 18th, 1882, by the Germania Fire Insurance Company and the Hanover Fire Insurance Company, as underwriters, [231]*231wherein each of said companies, severally, each for itself, and not one lor the other, became the insurers, for one hall the amount of said policy, for a term of three years. The said policy containing a covenant that in the event the assured had to resort to judicial proceedings to enforce their chumo under said policy, it should not be nccerrary to proceed against each of the insurers; but that snob nal-ion might bo brought against either of said compmvog and tint the other should be bound and concluded by the remit of such action in the same mnnacu* and to the samo effect as if it had been prosecuted against each of them separately with the like result.

To the declaration in the cause the defendant company interposed rive pleas as follows.: 1st. Non-assumpsit; 2nd. Nil debit; 3rd. That the plain tilts did not before the institution of their suit make and furnish to the defendant proofs of their alleged loss in accordance wjth the requirements of the policy of insurance sued upon; 4th. That subsequent to the issuance of the said policy of insurance, and before the occurrence of the said fire, there took place a change in the title and possession of the sail property described in the said policy of insurance, in that the phiintiif William C. Lewis, who had no interest therein when the said policy was issued, became in part an owner thereof with the plaintiffs George Lewis and Edward Lewis, and entered into possession thereof with them before the said tire; 5th. That if the plaintiffs are entitled to recover from the defendant, [232]*232they are entitled to recover only the sum of $2,080.37 -J, with interest thereon, because the said plaintiffs and defendant on the 10th day of April, A. I). 1885, submitted to an arbitration consisting of B. P. Langley and T. J. Rawls, together with a third person to be chosen by the said arbitrators if necessary, the appraisal and estimate, at the then cash value, of the damage by the said lire to said property, which appraisal and estimate by them or any two of them in writing was to be binding on both parties, as to the actual cash value of, or damage to, the said properly, but without reference to any other question or matters of difference within the terms and conditions of the insurance, a copy of which said submission to arbitrators is hereto annexed marked “A,” and made a part of this plea, and thereupon to-wit: On the' 11th day of .April, A. D. 1885, the said Langley and J. M. Wilson, the third party chosen by the said arbitrators to determine with them the-said question, did make, write and deliver to the said plaintiffs and the defendant their award and appraisal in the premises, and by such award and appraisal did appraise and arbitrate the damage done by the said lire, at the sum of $4,172.75.

To the first and second of these pleas the plaintiffs joined issue. To the third and fifth pleas the plaintiff demurred, which demurrer upon subsequent argument was overruled.

To the defendant’s fourth plea the plaintiffs interposed a replication in avoidance of the. defense of a change of title in the property insured anterior to the [233]*233fire that is set up in the defendant’s fourth plea. After the overruling of their demurrer to the third and fifth pleas of the defendant, the plaintiffs replied to the said pleas as follows: “ The plaintiffs, as to the third plea, say that they did make and furnish to defendants proofs of their loss on blank forms furnished to plaintiffs by defendant for that purpose, and not therefore required to furnish other. The plaintiffs, as to the fifth plea, say that the so-called arbitration was not in accordance with the statutes of this State in such cases made and provided, nor in accordance with the terms of the policy of assurance between plaintiffs and defondant, nor with the “special agreement” for sub-in ism on to two builders. That the said two builders, nor either one of same, with a properly constituted umpire have made “no” award in accordance with said agreements; that the so-called award has not been accepted nor acted upon by either party, but was promptly repudiated by plaintiffs, and defendants so advised. That said agreement of submission was in no sense legal, just or equitable, and had no binding-force,. in that its effect was to bind one party only to-the prospective award. That one arbitrator -was committed in favor of one party, and the umpire relied wholly upon the statements of the arbitrator or arbitrators, without personal knowledge and without testimony.”

To this replication to the third plea the defendant demurred and at the same time moved to strike out the replication to the fifth plea. Upon subsequent argu[234]*234ment. the demurrer to the replication to the third plea was overruled, but the motion to strike out the replication was granted.

At this state of the proceeding, by leave of the court, the plaintiffs amended their declaration by striking out the name of William C. Lewis, as a party plaintiff,, and by styling their suit “George Lewis and Edward. Lewis, formerly partners under the firm name of 15. C. Lewis & lions,” as plaintiffs. Upon this amendment of the declaration, the defendant withdrew its firm plea of non-assumpsit and plead the others over to the declaration as amended. The plaintiffs then filed a replication to the defendant’s third plea,, substantially the same that they before interposed to same, which replication was demurred to again by the defendant, and the demurrer again overruled, which ruling was erroneous. The demurrer of the defendant to the replication to defendant’s third plea should have-been sustained for the obvious reason that the replication demurred to does not allege that proper proofs of loss were made by the plaintiffs and furnished to the defendant, or that proofs were thus made and furnished in compliance with the provisions for such proofs in the policy contained as one of the covenants therein ;but simply alleges that ‘ ‘proofs of their loss were furnished to defendant by plaintiffs on blank form furnished to plaintiffs by defendant for that purpose,” when the pith of the third plea to which it was_ intended as a reply, was that no proofs “in accordance with the' requirements of the policy sued upon” had been furnished. The [235]*235replication, does not dispute or take issue upon this assertion in the plea, but undertakes to sidetrack the defense tendered by the pica, by substituting proofs made on a. blank form, for the proofs called for by the provisions of the policy. The proofs furnished as alleged in tins replication Uioi’gli filling up the blanks in a dozen sol; forme, nay f till have fallen far alunt of filling the requiremenTi of the policy sued upon.

Upon defendant’f? fourth plea the plaintiffs joined issue. To the fifth plea the plaintiffs interposed a replica ¡ ion containing twenty-six numbered grounds of objection.

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Bluebook (online)
28 Fla. 209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanover-fire-insurance-v-b-c-lewis-sons-fla-1891.