Hayes v. Milford Mutual Fire Insurance

49 N.E. 754, 170 Mass. 492, 1898 Mass. LEXIS 258
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMarch 11, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 49 N.E. 754 (Hayes v. Milford Mutual Fire Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hayes v. Milford Mutual Fire Insurance, 49 N.E. 754, 170 Mass. 492, 1898 Mass. LEXIS 258 (Mass. 1898).

Opinion

Lathrop, J.

The plaintiff, by virtue of a contract with the . Atlas Mutual Insurance Company, made on February 27,1895, was constituted its sole agent, and was to have charge of placing all risks on behalf of said company. He was to receive as compensation for his services “ a sum equivalent to twenty per cent of all sums received from the assured for or on account of all the policies issued on behalf of the company; and also a sum equivalent to ten per cent of the net profits of the business of the company.” The net profits were to be estimated by considering as profits all premiums received or payable on account of policies issued within the year, and deducting therefrom all amounts paid for cancellations, returned premiums, rebates, reductions in rates, premiums for reinsurance, all losses and expenses incidental to the adjustment thereof, the compensation of twenty per cent above mentioned, and also all allowances provided in the contract on account of taxes and office expenses. It is agreed by the parties that the plaintiff did not determine the character, of the risks taken by the Atlas Insurance Company, but this duty was performed by the secretary of the company, under a vote of the directors.

While this contract was in force the defendant issued to the plaintiff the policy declared on. This was on a printed blank of a Massachusetts standard policy, with a rider attached. It insures “ Lorenzo Burge, Hayes, & Co.” (the name under which the plaintiff did business) against loss or damage by fire or lightning to the amount of twenty-five hundred dollars, as per form attached to and made the descriptive part of this policy. Then follows the rider, signed by the secretary of the company, and reading as follows:

“ Lorenzo Burge, Hayes, & Co. On their interest in profits under contract with the Atlas Mutual Insurance Company of Boston, provided the following conditions are. complied with: First. The Atlas Mutual Insurance Company must sustain losses by fire between midnight of Sept. 30, 1895, and midnight of Dec. 31, 1895, amounting to $25,000. Second. No claim [494]*494for loss can be made against the Milford Mutual Fire Insurance Company until the assured presents a statement from the secretary of the Atlas Mutual Insurance Company, under oath, stating .that the Atlas Mutual Insurance Co. has suffered loss in excess of $25,000 by and in consequence of fires occurring during the term above specified. The above two conditions having been complied with, the Milford Mutual Fire Insurance Company hereby agrees to pay to the assured 50% of its policy; then if it is shown in the same manner that the losses of said-Atlas Mutual Insurance Co. have amounted to $30,000 for the same period, the Milford Mutual Fire Insurance Co. pays a total loss under its policy. It is further understood and agreed that all specific reinsurance shall be credited by the Atlas Mutual Insurance Co., but it is further understood and agreed that the said $25,000 or $30,000 in losses are entirely irrespective of any and all excess reinsurance of whatever name or nature, should any exist. It is further understood that this policy cannot be cancelled by either party to this contract.”

The insurance was from September 30, 1895, at midnight, until December 31, 1895, at midnight.

The Atlas Insurance Company sustained losses by fire "between midnight of September 30, 1895, and midnight of December 31, 1895, in excess of $30,000, after crediting all specific reinsurance. The company had no excess reinsurance.

Before the date of the writ in this case the plaintiff presented to the defendant a statement under oath from the secretary of the Atlas Insurance Company, setting forth that that company had sustained losses by and in consequence of fires occurring between midnight of September 30, 1895, and midnight of December 31, 1895, amounting to more than $30,000, after crediting all specific insurance. This statement was accepted by the defendant as correct in form.

1. The first question which arises in the case is whether the plaintiff had an insurable interest in the property insured by the Atlas Insurance Company; and we have no doubt that he had such an interest. By virtue of his contract with the Atlas Insurance Company, he was entitled to a certain portion of the net profits of that company during the period specified in the policy. As, in estimating the net profits, losses were to be [495]*495deducted, the plaintiff would have been benefited by the continued existence of the property, insured by the Atlas Insurance Company, and would have been injured by its destruction.

In Eastern Railroad v. Relief Ins. Co. 98 Mass. 420, 423, it is said by Mr. Justice Gray: “ By the law of insurance, any person has an insurable interest in property, by the existence of which he receives a benefit, or by the destruction of which he will suffer a loss, whether he has or has not any title in, or lien upon, or possession of the property itself.” Many other cases might be cited to the same effect.

2. The next question is whether the description of the subject matter of the insurance, namely, the tangible property covered by policies of the Atlas Insurance Company during the time specified, is sufficiently definite.

The words “ on their interest in profits ” are to be taken in connection with the rest of the policy, and with the contract of the plaintiff, in determining what is meant. Preceding the rider are the words “ against loss or damage by fire or lightning.” These words have reference to tangible property rather than to an intangible interest. The first and second conditions of the rider show the intention of the parties that the payment of the insurance should depend on the destruction or damage of tangible property by fire or lightning. It also clearly appears in the contract between the plaintiff and the Atlas Insurance Company that a portion of the plaintiff’s compensation for his services was dependent on the continued existence of property insured by that company.

In Eastern Railroad v. Relief Ins. Co., ubi supra, the insurance was on the plaintiff’s liability for loss and damage by fire occasioned by sparks of locomotives to property of others, situate on lands not owned or occupied by assured; and it was said by Mr. Justice Gray: “ The object of this clause is to define the extent of the risk which is assumed, and to describe their insurable interest in accordance with its peculiar nature. . . . But, by the manifest purport of this clause, and the clear words of the subsequent provisions of the policy, it is the property in which they have an interest to the extent of their liability for its destruction, and not that liability itself, which is insured against loss or damage by fire.”

[496]*496So in cases under the St. of 19 Geo. II., c. 37, § 1, it has been held that an insurance on profits on goods is an insurance on goods. Smith v. Reynolds, 1 H. & N. 221. De Mattos v. North, L. R. 3 Ex. 185. See also Berridge v. Man On Ins. Co. 18 Q. B. D. 346.

We are therefore of opinion that the subject matter of the insurance was sufficiently described.

3. We see no ground for holding that the policy in question is a gaming or wager policy. The plaintiff, as we have seen, had. an interest in the property insured when the policy was made, and this interest continued during the term of the policy. See King v. State Ins. Co. 7 Cush. 1, 5.

4.

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Bluebook (online)
49 N.E. 754, 170 Mass. 492, 1898 Mass. LEXIS 258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hayes-v-milford-mutual-fire-insurance-mass-1898.