Kirshbaum v. Hanover Fire Insurance

45 N.E. 1113, 16 Ind. App. 606, 1897 Ind. App. LEXIS 267
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 26, 1897
DocketNo. 2,067
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 45 N.E. 1113 (Kirshbaum v. Hanover Fire Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kirshbaum v. Hanover Fire Insurance, 45 N.E. 1113, 16 Ind. App. 606, 1897 Ind. App. LEXIS 267 (Ind. Ct. App. 1897).

Opinion

Robinson, J.

This action was brought by the appellant against the Hanover Fire Insurance Company to recover for a loss by fire to certain buildings and machinery of the Portland Milling Company. Jacob R, Jones and the appellee, Hanlin, were made parties defendant. The cause was put at issue and was tried by the court. At the request of the appellant, the plaintiff below, the court made a special finding of the facts, and thereon stated its conclusions of law. To the conclusion of law, the appellant excepted. Over appellant’s motion for a new trial, and exception, judgment was rendered in favor of appellee, Hanlin, for 1821.34.

The facts found by the court were substantially as follows: On the 21st day of October, 1886, the Port[608]*608land Milling Company, a corporation, executed to tlie appellant a mortgage upon a certain lot in Portland, Jay county, on which was situated the buildings of the milling company, to secure an indebtedness of five thousand dollars then owing by the company to the appellant. This mortgage was foreclosed by the appellant on the 27th day of February, 1894, and on the 24th day of March, 1894, the property described in the mortgage was sold by the sheriff; and for the purpose of collecting his mortgage debt the appellant purchased the property for the sum of $5,960.68, the same being the amount of his judgment, interest and costs; and on the 28th day of March, 1894, the appellant was the holder of the sheriff’s certificate of purchase therefor. In the foreclosure suit, Jacob R. Jones was appointed receiver for the milling company, and was receiver on the 28th day of March, 1894. Leave was granted to make the receiver a party defendant to this action to answer as to any interest the milling company might have in the policy of insurance sued on. On the 28th day of March, 1894, the building and machinery on which the appellant’s mortgage was executed were destroyed by fire. The purchase of the property under the foreclosure proceedings was in full satisfaction of the appellant’s judgment, and the execution and decree were returned by the sheriff fully satisfied. On the 27th day of February, 1894, the People’s Bank recovered a judgment against the Portland Milling Company, as principal, and the appellee, Hanlin, Ira Denney, and Patterson M. FTearn for $2,725.52, which judgment was paid in full on that day by appellee, Hanlin. On the same day, the Citizens’ Bank of Portland, Indiana, recovered a judgment against the milling company, as principal, and the appellee, Hanlin, Ira Denney, and Abraham Bergman, as sureties, for the sum of $487.31; and on the [609]*609same day the Citizens’ Bank recovered another judgment against the milling company, as principal, and appellee, Hanlin, and Ira Denney, as sureties for the sum of $931.42; and that the appellee, Hanlin, had paid $900.00 on the judgment in favor of said Citizens’ Bank. At the time the property was destroyed by fire, and for a long time prior thereto, the appellee, Hanlin, owned about $6,000.00 of the capital stock of the milling company. On or about the 27th day of March, 1894, the appellee, Hanlin, applied to the agent, at Portland, of the Hanover Fire Insurance Company, for insurance on the milling company’s property, for $3,000.00, for the benefit of himself and the said Denney, Hearn and Bergman, from loss as surety for the milling company; that the agent agreed to write such insurance for a premium of $142.50, which appellee, Hanlin, was to pay to said agent. The appellee, Hanlin, not knowing how the insurance should be written to protect him and his co-sureties, but the agent, having had long experience as such agent, agreed to write the insurance as appellee, Hanlin, had requested; that said Hanlin left the $142.50, to pay the premium on said insurance when the policies were ready, with receiver Jones, who was to call on the agent and pay the premium and procure the policies for appellee, Hanlin. The agent wrote two policies, for fifteen hundred dollars each, one for the Farmers’ Fire Insurance Company, and the other for the Hanover Fire Insurance Company, the last named being the policy in suit; each were issued and dated March 27th, 1894. After the policies were written, but before they had been delivered to receiver Jones, and before the premium had been paid, to-wit: on the 28th day of March, 1894, the property so insured was destroyed by fire. The milling company was at that time, and has since [610]*610been wholly insolvent. On the 30th day of March, 1894, receiver Jones, as appellee, Hanlin’s agent, tendered to the insurance agent the premium money, and demanded the policies, which were refused; and said Jones, at the instance of the insurance agent, deposited the premium money in bank and the policies were retained by the agent until the day of trial. The court further found that the agent, in writing the policies, disregarding the agreement to write them to protect appellee, Hanlin, and his co-sureties, wrongfully and fraudulently, and without the consent or knowledge of Hanlin and said sureties, inserted in each of said policies that the loss, if any should occur by fire, should be paid to the appellant, mortgagee, as his interest might appear. That neither Hanlin nor his co-sureties had any knowledge that the policies were so written until after the property burned. No part of the sum of money paid by appellee, Hanlin, on the People’s Bank judgment, and the $900.00 on the two judgments in favor of the Citizens’ Bank has ever been repaid to him. The insurance evidenced by the policy in suit was procured by the appellee, Hanlin. Neither the appellant nor the receiver for the milling company paid or agreed to pay any part of said premium. At the time the policy in suit was written, the appellant held policies on the property to the amount of $6,750.00.

The Hanover Fire Insurance Company, by agreement made in open court with the appellant and appellee, Hanlin, and receiver Jones, paid into court the sum of $821.34, and ten dollars for costs, and was discharged from further liability on account of the policy sued on. Neither the appellee, Hanlin, nor the receiver, ever saw the policy in suit until the day of the trial

[611]*611On tlie facts found, the court stated, as conclusion of law:

. “1st. That the plaintiff, Raphael Kirshbaum, take nothing by his complaint.
“2d. That the cross-complainant, Jacob R. Jones, receiver of the Portland Milling Company, take nothing by his cross-complaint.
“3d. That the cross-complainant, John T. Hanlin, should have and recover of and from the defendant, the Hanover Fire Insurance Company, the sum of $821.34.
“4th. That the cross-complainant, John T. Hanlin, should have and recover of and from the defendants to his cross-complaint, to-wit: Raphael Kirshbaum and Jacob R. Jones, receiver, his costs by him in this suit paid, laid out and expended, except such costs herein as have been paid by the defendant, the Hanover Fire Insurance Company.”

The first error assigned calls in question the ruling of the court in admitting John T. Hanlin as party defendant on his own application.

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Related

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97 N.E. 958 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1912)
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70 N.E. 169 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1904)

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Bluebook (online)
45 N.E. 1113, 16 Ind. App. 606, 1897 Ind. App. LEXIS 267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kirshbaum-v-hanover-fire-insurance-indctapp-1897.