Havens v. Germania Insurance

37 S.W. 497, 135 Mo. 649, 1896 Mo. LEXIS 285
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 17, 1896
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 37 S.W. 497 (Havens v. Germania Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Havens v. Germania Insurance, 37 S.W. 497, 135 Mo. 649, 1896 Mo. LEXIS 285 (Mo. 1896).

Opinion

Robinson, J.

This is the second appeal of this case to this court. Por the detailed facts that led up to, and resulted in, the institution of the original suit, and the final judgment therein, reference is made to the statement as given in the first opinion of this court in the case reported in the 123 Mo. 403.

Generally stated, the original suit was instituted by Havens & Richardson as plaintiffs on several policies of insurance effected by one Sage, on property purchased by him from plaintiffs, and upon which he had agreed to carry insurance to the amount of $4,250, [653]*653the unpaid purchase price of said property due plaintiffs, evidenced by a deed of trust securing same. Plaintiffs’ debt, secured by a deed of trust against the property destroyed, was $4,250. The insurance effected amounts to $8,400. Loss, if any, was payable to plaintiffs as their interest might appear. The property was entirely destroyed by fire on the night of the sixteenth of June, 1885, except a small amount, valued at $380, that a-short time previously had been removed from the mill by defendant Sage. McAdam and Harrington, who claimed some interest under Sage, were joined as defendants, with the insurance companies, and each files a separate answer claiming an interest in the proceeds of the policies.

At the first trial in the circuit court the insurance companies contended that the extent of their liability was the value of the property' destroyed; that section 6009, Revised Statutes, 1879, did not apply. The trial court, taking that view of the law, found the actual value of the property destroyed to be only $3,695, and, being less than the amount due from Sage to plaintiffs as evidenced by their notes secured by a deed of trust on the property destroyed, rendered its judgment for plaintiffs against the defendants, Sage, McAdam, and Harrington on their answer in the nature of an inter-plea and cross bill. From that judgment the defendants Sage, McAdam, and Harrington alone prosecuted an appeal, contending that under section 6009 above named, the insurance companies were liable for the full amount of the policies. Being written to insure real property, and the property being wholly destroyed, they were entitled to the difference between the total amount of insurance and the amount paid by the insurance company on the judgment in favor of plaintiffs as mortgagees.

This court, in an opinion delivered on the sixth day [654]*654of July, 1894, reported in the 123 Mo. 403, taking the view of the appellants therein, reversed and. remanded the cause, with the following recital and direction to the trial court, appearing in the opinion:

“We think the circuit court erred in not applying section 6009, Revised Statutes, 1879, to the facts and in not holding that the aggregate of the policies conclusively fixed the value of the mill and machinery and the measure of damages, less the sum of $380, the amount of machinery not exposed to the fire. * * * As the circuit court found the insured had complied with all the conditions on their part and the only question being whether the statute applied, it would appear unnecessary to put the parties to the cost of another trial, hence judgment is reversed with directions to the circuit court to render a decree for the aggregate amount of said policies, less $380, with interest at six per cent thereon from the time of filing the cross bill by Sage and his assignees and distribute the fund as the rights of the plaintiffs and Sage, McAdams, and Harrington to the same shall appear.”

After the cause was remanded to the circuit court, Warner, Dean & Hagerman (the former attorneys for the defendants Sage, McAdam, and Harrington) filed by permission of the court an intervening petition setting up that the interest of Sage, McAdam, and Harrington in the policies of insurance had been transferred to them; in reply to which, and as a supplemental answer, the insurance companies say that the plaintiffs Havens & Richardson were paid in full all sums coming to them on account of the policies sued on, by the payment to them of the whole amount of the judgment originally rendered in the circuit court in the cause, and that said plaintiffs never appealed from said judgment and are therefore not entitled to recover any further sum from the said insurance companies; and [655]*655that the other parties herein have no interest in the amount of said insurance due said Havens & Richardson, and are only entitled to recover now under the order of the supreme court directing judgment against them, the full amount of said insurance of $8,400, less the amount thereof originally due Havens & Eichardson of $4,250 with eight per cent interest per annum thereon from the eighth day of November, 1884, up to the time of the rendition of the decree of the circuit court • on the twenty-fifth of June, 1887, and less the sum of $380, the value of the property saved from destruction at the time of the fire, leaving the amount due by all the companies, to be paid according to the amounts of the respective policies, only $3,570.67 with interest thereon at six per cent per annum from June 25, 1887.

It was admitted that the insurance company had paid the judgment originally rendered by the circuit court in favor of Havens & Eichardson, as set out in their reply and answer.

A form of decree to be entered was then presented to the court, and it was admitted that the proper order to be rendered therein was that rendered except as to the amount. That is the only question involved in this appeal; the intervenors, for themselves and for their codefendants Sage, McAdam, and Harrington, contending that the amount of the judgment should be ascertained by crediting the insurance companies only with the amount that they had actually paid. The insurance companies, who are prosecuting this appeal, on the other hand contending, as set out in their reply and answer, that they were entitled to credit for the amount of the claim of Havens & Eichardson against Sage as of the date when they paid the judgment in favor of said plaintiffs.

The circuit court, taking the view of the intervening respondents and their codefendants, rendered judg[656]*656ment against the companies for the aggregate sum of $6,533.29, being the full amount of insurance named in the policies with accruing interest less the actual amount paid to Havens & Richardson on their judgment, and the further sum of $380 as a credit for the property saved from the fire, to be paid by each company in the proportion the sum named in its policy bears to the judgment in gross.

Just what is the controlling reason for the contention of appellants is not quite clear to the writer. They say that they are and were entitled to the benefit of their settlement with Havens & Richardson (the plaintiffs in the original proceedings) on account of their failure to appeal from the judgment rendered in their favor in the first instance; that instead of being only allowed the amount of $3,695 and interest (the amount of the judgment in favor of Havens & Richardson in the first suit) they should be allowed the full amount of $4,250 with interest from November 4, 1884, which Havens & Richardson were actually entitled to have received.

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37 S.W. 497, 135 Mo. 649, 1896 Mo. LEXIS 285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/havens-v-germania-insurance-mo-1896.