Jackson v. British America Assurance Co.

63 N.W. 899, 106 Mich. 47, 1895 Mich. LEXIS 934
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 2, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 63 N.W. 899 (Jackson v. British America Assurance Co.) 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
Jackson v. British America Assurance Co., 63 N.W. 899, 106 Mich. 47, 1895 Mich. LEXIS 934 (Mich. 1895).

Opinions

Hooker, J.

The plaintiff’s vessel having been burned in Detroit river, while on a voyage from Bay City to Cleveland, an action was brought and judgment obtained by him upon a policy of insurance, and defendant has appealed.

The first and most important question raised by the record is whether the policy covered the vessel after leaving Bay City, and this depends upon a construction of the policy, which consists of the ordinary marine policy, with certain riders attached. It is conceded to indemnify against loss by fire only. Defendant claims that it was-winter insurance, and covered the property only while the-[50]*50vessel was in the harbor of Bay City; while the plaintiff asserts that it was a fire policy, covering the vessel from the 4th of December to the 1st of May, and that by the express terms of the policy she might navigate the lakes and Detroit river after April 1st. As stated, the policy was written upon a blank marine policy, which, if not qualified, would have insured the vessel against the other usual risks of navigation. It provided as follows:

“The British America Assurance Company * * * does make insurance, and cause $5,000 to be insured, upon the body, tackle, apparel, and other furniture of the steamer called the ‘Burlington/ from noon of the 4t(h day of December/1893 (the said vessel being warranted by the insured to be then in safety), to noon of the 1st day of May, 1894, unless sooner terminated or made void by con-* ditions hereafter expressed. Warranted by the insured to be employed exclusively in the freighting .or passenger business, or both, and not to carry quicklime in the lower hold, and to navigate only the waters, bays, harbors, rivers, canals, and other tributaries of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, Erie, and Ontario, and River St. Lawrence to Quebec, usually navigated by vessels of her class, during the portion of the life of tlliis policy between noon of April 1st and noon of November 30th; * * * and between noon of November 30th and noon of April 1st ensuing, said vessel shall be laid up and safely moored, satisfactorily to this company.”

It was stamped: “This is a fire policy only.”

If this were the only provision upon the subject, it is plain that plaintiff’s contention that he had a right to navigate the vessel after April 1st without affecting his insurance is correct; but upon defendant’s behalf it is contended that the riders and the circumstances under which the policy was obtained, and plaintiff’s correspondence since the loss, exclude the plaintiff’s construction, and show that it was the intention of the parties that the policy should be limited to such time as the vessel should remain in the harbor where she then was.

We will first consider the effect of the riders, in and of themselves. It is elementary that all parts of the policy [51]*51are to be harmonized and given effect, if it can be consistently done, and that, unless the riders are irreconcilable with the printed clause quoted, such clause must stand. If they are inconsistent and irreconcilable, the riders must control. The first rider upon the policy was as follows:

“On the hull, and 'on the engines, boilers, machinery, tackle, small boats, apparel, and furniture, belonging to and while on board of the steamer Burlington, laid up and properly moored in the harbor of Bay City, Mich. Permission is hereby given to do painting, and to malee necessary alterations and repairs, and to fit out in the spring, and to move from dock to dock for the purpose of loading and unloading cargo.”

Another rider was attached, reading as follows:

“This policy covers against fire only, on the terms and conditions of the standard form fire policy of the State of New York, and anything in this policy conflicting therewith is hereby waived.”

The significant provisions of these riders, and those alleged to affect the question under discussion, are:

1. The language, “steamer Burlington, laid up and properly moored in the harbor of Bay City, Mich.”

2. “Permission to do painting, and to make necessary alterations and repairs, and to fit out in the spring.”

3. The privilege “of moving from dock to dock for the purpose of loading and unloading cargo.”

4. The exclusion of all risks but fire.

' 5. The limitation to the terms of the standard form policy.

(i. The waiver of provisions of the policy written, so far as they conflicted with the standard policy.

The fact that the first rider describes the property insured differently from the body of the policy has no especial significance. It is somewhat more specific in articles mentioned; it may be doubtful whether it is more comprehensive.

The provisions numbered 4 and 5 clearly limit the risk, to losses by fire. They are irreconcilable with the pro[52]*52visions of the marine policy as to other risks, and must govern in that respect, and plaintiff does not question this.

There is more question over the effect of the limitation to the terms of the standard form policy. This standard form policy referred to appears to be the “standard fire insurance policy of New York,” and a copy is included in the record. It is said to be identical with the Michigan form. Counsel for the defendant claim that this rider gives the same effect to the policy as though written upon a standard form blank, and that in such blank there is no provision for -navigation during certain portions of the year, but, on the contrary, the printed part of the standard policy uses the following language, viz.: “To the following described property, while located and contained as described herein.” It is said that this provision should be substituted for the other, and if that be done there is nothing to indicate that the vessel might leave the place where she was moored, except to go from dock to dock in that harbor for the purpose of unloading and loading cargo.

These riders, like the policy, were signed by the underwriter, and we may dismiss the provision in relation to the waiver of inconsistent provisions by saying that it was the waiver of the company, and mot of the plaintiff, made for the benefit of the plaintiff, and not the defendant. It was doubtless designed to cover the various provisions pertinent to marine risks, but which had no application to a purely fire risk. On the part of the plaintiff, no express waiver was necessary, for, by accepting this policy, he agreed to take insurance according to the terms of the standard policy, and cannot insist on anything in the policy taken that is necessarily in conflict with it. There is, therefore, no especial significance to the waiver, unless its language implies that the provisions of the marine policy apply where they are not inconsistent with the standard policy.

Had the standard policy blank been used, and the [53]*53clause quoted from the same been followed by the provision in relation to navigation after the 1st of April, it would have been a valid policy, and would have covered the property while in other waters than the harbor of Bay City. There is nothing inconsistent with the standard policy, or contrary to the law, in such a provision.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 N.W. 899, 106 Mich. 47, 1895 Mich. LEXIS 934, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jackson-v-british-america-assurance-co-mich-1895.