Houston Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. v.. Nichols

428 S.W.2d 458, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2700
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 8, 1968
DocketNo. 5928
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 428 S.W.2d 458 (Houston Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. v.. Nichols) 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
Houston Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. v.. Nichols, 428 S.W.2d 458, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2700 (Tex. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

OPINION

CLAYTON, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment for appellee for the recovery of insurance proceeds, entered in the District Court of Gaines County, Texas.

Appellee Nichols obtained two piles of cotton burrs located on the premises of two gins in Gaines County and expected to transport them to farms where he would spread them and receive from the farmers a fixed payment for gathering the burrs, transporting them and spreading them for fertilizer. He contacted a W. L. McNeil, an insurance agent in Midland, Texas having an agency contract with appellant company. This insurance agent personally viewed the burr piles and got in touch with one James W. Howard, who was the manager of the Midland branch of appellant company, supervising the West Texas area for the company. As a result, a 30-day insurance “binder” was issued, pending the issuance of insurance policies, on each of the burr piles, in the amount of $3,000.00 each. This binder was written by McNeil but was not delivered to appellee before the loss, and it described the product to be insured as “cotton seed hulls” and as being “in the open”, or off the gin premises.

[460]*460The two piles of burrs were destroyed by two separate fires and appellant denied liability. Suit was filed by appellee which was tried by a jury on special issues, in answer to which the jury found :

1. That W. L. McNeil represented to Benny Nichols that the insurance binder gave insurance coverage on the cotton burrs in question.

2. That at the time of the issuance of the binder McNeil was acting as the agent of appellant.

3. That Nichols relied on the representations referred to in No. 1.

4. That Nichols could not have lessened his damáges by seeking replacement of the cotton burrs following the fires.

5. Not answered since conditioned upon an answer “He could have” to No. 4.

6. That McNeil did not fail to disclose to Jim Howard that the commodity sought to be insured by Nichols was cotton burrs.

7. Not answered since conditioned upon an answer “He did fail” to No. 6.

8. That Mr. Williams (an associate of McNeil) did not fail to disclose to Jim Howard that the commodity sought to be insured was cotton burrs.

9. Unanswered, conditioned upon a “He did fail” answer to No. 8.

10. That McNeil did not fail to disclose to Jim Howard the commodity was located on gin premises.

11. Unanswered, conditioned upon a positive answer to No. 10.

12. That Williams did not fail to disclose to Jim Howard the commodity was located on gin premises.

13. Unanswered, conditioned upon a positive answer to No. 12.

14. That Jim Howard did not give specific instructions to McNeil not to issue a binder if the property was located on gin premises.

15. That McNeil did not issue the binder to Nichols without authority from Jim Howard.

16. That $6,000.00 would compensate Nichols for the damage to his property by fire (accompanied by appropriate definitions) .

Whereupon the trial court overruled the appellant’s motion for judgment N. O. V. and rendered judgment for appellee in the amount of $6,000.00, from which this appeal is taken.

Appellant presents seventeen points of error which will hereinafter be discussed as we proceed. The first seven points of error are grouped together by appellant and are as follows:

First Point: The trial court erred in entering judgment on a binder of insurance not authorized or agreed to by the insurance company.

Second Point: The trial court erred in giving effect to the jury’s finding on Special Issue No. 2 that McNeil was an agent of appellant company when the binder was issued, as there was no evidence or insufficient evidence to support the finding.

Third Point: There was no jury finding, and no proof that the binder was issued by an agent of appellant company acting within his authority.

In support of these points appellant relies heavily on authorities which hold, in effect, that under the circumstances of this case McNeil was actually an agent of the appellee rather than appellant. In contrast, as pointed out by appellee, we also observe on this question that in Article 21.-02, Texas Insurance Code, V.A.T.S., on “who are agents”, there is provided as follows :

“Art. 21.02. Who Are Agents
“Any person who solicits insurance on behalf of any insurance company, whether incorporated under the laws of this or any other state or foreign government, [461]*461or who takes or transmits other than for himself any application for insurance or any policy of insurance to or from such company, or who advertises or otherwise gives notice that he will receive or transmit the same, or who shall receive or deliver a policy of insurance of any such company, or who shall examine or inspect any risk, or receive, or collect, or transmit any premium of insurance, or make or forward any diagram of any building or buildings, or do or perform any other act or thing in the making or consummating of any contract of insurance for or with any such insurance company other than for himself, or who shall examine into, or adjust, or aid in adjusting, any loss for or on behalf of any such insurance company, whether any of such acts shall be done at the instance or request, or by the employment of such insurance company, or of, or by, any broker or other person, shall be held to be the agent of the company for which the act is done, or the risk is taken, as far as relates to all the liabilities, duties, requirements and penalties set forth in this chapter.” (Emphasis supplied).

Under the provisions of this article we find that McNeil was the agent of appellant company and therefore the binder of insurance was authorized by and agreed to by appellant company through McNeil as its agent acting within his authority, and the jury was supported by evidence in so finding. The first three points of error are overruled.

The next four points of error, further relative to whether or not there was a contract of insurance, are:

Fourth Point: The trial court erred in entering judgment, in effect, for a loss by reason of interruption of Nichols’ business where such risk was never insured against nor any policy or binder of insurance ever requested, or issued, thereon.

Fifth Point: The binder covered, at most, loss to personal property when the insured was attempting to obtain business interruption insurance.

Sixth Point: Judgment was entered on a binder for a loss to cottonseed hulls when all the proof was to a loss of cotton burrs.

Seventh Point: No premium was ever paid on the binder.

In answer to the fourth and fifth points it seems clear that Nichols was attempting to secure insurance covering the burr piles which were to be used in his planned fertilizer business, and it was a natural result that the destruction by fire of the burrs put an end to his plans. He had taken McNeil and his associate Williams to the gins to view the burr piles and when he learned he could insure the burrs, he also arranged for insurance on a truck and equipment to haul and spread the burrs.

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Related

Houston Fire and Casualty Insurance Co. v. Nichols
435 S.W.2d 140 (Texas Supreme Court, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
428 S.W.2d 458, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2700, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/houston-fire-casualty-insurance-co-v-nichols-texapp-1968.