Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance v. Home Life & Accident Co.

178 S.W. 314, 119 Ark. 102, 1915 Ark. LEXIS 414
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 31, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 178 S.W. 314 (Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance v. Home Life & Accident Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance v. Home Life & Accident Co., 178 S.W. 314, 119 Ark. 102, 1915 Ark. LEXIS 414 (Ark. 1915).

Opinions

Hart, J.

This is the second appeal in this case. For the opinion on the former appeal, see Massachusetts Bonding & Ins. Co. v. Home Life & Accident Co., 113 Ark. 576, 168 S. W. 1062. The issues raised by the present appeal are different from those involved in the former appeal, -and on that account it will be uecessar^ for a particular statement of the facts pertinent to the issues raised by the present appeal.

The American Union Fire Ins. Co. of Philadelphia, Penn., was engaged in the fire insurance business in the State of Arkansas during the years 1911, 1912 and 1913. The Southwestern Surety & Insurance Company signed as surety the bond of said fire insurance company to the State of Arkansas for the period of one year ending March 1,1912. The Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance Company signed as surety the bond of said insurance company to the State of Arkansas “for the period of one year ending -March 1, 1913. ’ ’ The bond -was conditioned that the American Union Fire Insurance Company should promptly pay all claims arising and accruing to any person or persons by virtue of any policy issued by said company during the term of the bond, upon any property situated in the State of Arkansas when the same should become due. This bond was filed in the auditor ’s office and approved February 29,1912. The Home Life & Accident Company executed a similar bond as surety of said fire insurance company for the period of one year, ending March 1,1914.

C. C. Hanson, as receiver of the Gulf Compress Company, an insolvent domestic corporation, procured a policy of insurance in -said fire insurance company for $10,-000 on 168 hales of cotton. On March 1, 1913, about daylight, a period of time during the life of the policy, a fire occurred which destroyed the 168 bales of cotton. The policy of fire insurance was executed in the State of Alabama.

The American Union Fire Insurance Company became insolvent, and on March 27, 1913, a receiver was appointed to take charge of its assets. On the 29th day of. March, 1913, proof of loss duly made out and signed by the receiver in accordance with the terms of the policy was mailed to the insurance company. On June 19,1913, C. C. Hanson, as receiver of the'Gulf Compress Company, instituted an action in the circuit court against the Maissa-chusetts Bonding & Insurance Company to recover the amount of loss covered by said policy of fire insurance. On July 14, 1913, the present action was 'instituted in the chancery court by the Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance Company against The Home Life & Accident Com-. pany, C. C. Hanson, receiver of the Gulf Compress Company, and other parties having claims against the American Union Fire Insurance Company. The plaintiff prayed for 'an order enjoining' defendants from prosecuting .any suits against it in the law courts of the 'State of Arkansas, and requiring them to file their claims for adjudication in the chancery court where ian ancilliary receiver had been appointed to take charge of and wind up the assets of the said insurance company. An injunction was granted as prayed for.

The Home Life & Accident Company filed an .answer in which it denied liability on the bo ad which it had signed as surety. Subsequently, Hanson, as receiver of the G-ulf Compress Company, filed an intervention and asked judgment against the Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance Company for $10,000, the amount of the policy above referred to. Other claims to the amount of $18,000 were filed.

(1) On the former appeal we held that though loss occur upon policies written while the earlier bond was in force, only the surety upon the bond at the time of the loss is Ustible, the provision for renewal contemplating that there should be only one bond in force at one time. The other claims ialbove mentioned, amounting to $18,000, under our ruling in the former appeal, accrued during the life of the bond of the Home Life & Accident Company, and on that account were claims for which its bond was liable. There was a contest between the Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance Company and the Home Life & Accident Company as to which would be fiable upon the $10,-000 policy issued to Hanson, as receiver of the G-ulf Compress Company. The chancellor held that the Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance Company was liable for that claim .and rendered judgment against it for the sum of $10,000 and the accrued interest, but refused to allow statutory penalty and attorney’s fee. The case is here on appeal.

Act 327 of the Acts of 1905 is amendatory of sections 4371-2-3-4 of Kirby’s Digest. See Acts 1905, p. 780.

Section 2 of the act amends section 4372 of Kirby’s Digest, and provides that any person licensed by the auditor to act as .agent for any fire insurance company is prohibited from paying, directly or indirectly, any commission, brokerage or other valuable consideration on account of any policy or policies covering any property in the State of Arkansas to any person, agent, firm or corporation who is a nonresident of the State.

Section 3, which amends section 4373 of Kirby’s Digest, provides that when the auditor shall have received notice or information of any violation of any of the provisions of the act, he shall investigate such violation, and further provides for a revocation of the license of the insurance company for a certain period of time for a violation of the provisions of the act.

Section 1 of the act is amendatoiy of section 4371 of Kirby’s Digest, and in effect provides that the companies named in the act .are prohibited from authorizing or allowing any agent who is a nonresident of the State to issue or cause to be issued its own policy or policies of insurance or reinsurance on property located in this State. A comparison of these sections of the act of 1905 with the sections of the Digeist which they amend, shows that the amendment consists in bringing other companies than fire insurance companies within the terms of the act.

(2) Counsel for .appellant Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance Company insist that because the contract of insurance in .question was issued in the State of Alabama, it is void. They further contend that under the rule laid down in Crawford v. Ozark Insurance Company, 97 Ark. 549, we must presume that it was the intention of the surety company to execute the bond in compliance with the requirements of the statute, and because the insurance company failed to comply with the provisions of the act of 1906, .above referred to, the surety company is not liable on the bond. It is true that the contract of insurance was an Alabama contract, 'but, being valid under the laws of that State, it is valid here. State Mutual Fire Ins. Assn. v. Brinkley Stave and Heading Co., 61 Ark. 1.

(3) It will be observed that although penalties are imposed by the act of 1905 upon companies and their agents not complying with the provisions of the act, the act does not make void the contract made by the insurance company without such compliance, either as to the corporations named therein, or the policy holders in said company. In other words, the statute does not assume to forbid the making of contracts of insurance made in ■another State upon property situated in this State, nor does it assume to invalidate such agreements. The contract of insurance was innocent in itself, and in its consequences.

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Bluebook (online)
178 S.W. 314, 119 Ark. 102, 1915 Ark. LEXIS 414, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/massachusetts-bonding-insurance-v-home-life-accident-co-ark-1915.