Midwestern Insurance Company v. Rapp

1956 OK 36, 296 P.2d 770, 5 Oil & Gas Rep. 757, 1956 Okla. LEXIS 444
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 31, 1956
Docket36314
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1956 OK 36 (Midwestern Insurance Company v. Rapp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Midwestern Insurance Company v. Rapp, 1956 OK 36, 296 P.2d 770, 5 Oil & Gas Rep. 757, 1956 Okla. LEXIS 444 (Okla. 1956).

Opinion

BLACKBIRD, Justice.

This action was instituted to recover a “loss” allegedly covered by an insurance policy, or contract. The “loss” was the damages, in the stipulated sum of $35,000 done to a portable Oil and gas well-drilling rig owned by defendant'in error when it fell over on its side while being loaded-on a specially built truck trailer called a “lowboy”, preparatory to being moved to another location from the, well it had just previously been used to drill near Perry, Oklahoma.

The accident occurred January 7, 1952, only a few days after defendant in error had applied to plaintiff in error for insurance on the rig. To afford it immediate coverage, plaintiff in error issued defendant in error an instrument called a “binder”, dated, January 3,- 1952, whose purpose was to act as temporary insurance until. the policy it had purchased could be delivered. The policy did not reach the office of defendant in error until January 12th, or 5 days after the accident, though, like ,the binder, it was dated January 3rd. In the meantime, defendant in error 'had given plaintiff in error notice of its above-described loss, and, upon the -latter’s denial of liability and refusal to pay for said loss, defendant in error commenced this action, as plaintiff, against plaintiff in error, as defendant, to recover the rig’s damages under the aforesaid binder, rather than' the policy that it received .after the accident. The parties will hereinafter be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

The binder introduced in evidence at the trial provides that any loss occurring under it “shall be settled in accordance with the standard drilling rig .policy issued by Rig *773 Instirance Underwriters.” , The standard policy, also made a part of the evidence, contains provisions with reference to what is termed “co-insurance”, which term is explained in paragraph “V” under the portion of the policy devoted to “Definitions”, ás follows:

“It is expressly stipulated and made a condition of this contract that the Insured shall at all times maintain contributing insurance on the property insured by this policy to the extent of at least the specified percentage of the actual sound value at the timé of the loss and that failing to do‘so, the Insured shall to the extent of such deficit, bear their portion of any loss. ⅝ * * ff

Paragraph V, thus quoted from, begins with the- following' proviso in parenthesis: “This clause shall apply only where a percentage has been entered in 'Column 3 of Item 3 of the Declarations.” The, “Column 3 of Item 3” referred to is a printed square or blank space on the first, page of the policy that is provided for use in writing in the percentage of the total insurance coverage that is to be co-insured. The binder contains no reference to “co-insurance” except what may be inferred from, or included in, the aforesaid provision with reference to settlement “in accordance with the standard drilling rig policy *, * *”. Accordingly, one of the principal issues at the trial of the case was whether or not “co-insurance” was applicable to the loss involved. ,

The other principal issue was whether or not the loss, because of its cause, was one of . those covered. The standard form of policy covers, among others (with certain exceptions, or “Exclusions” not material here) losses and damages from both “windstorm” and “cratering”, which latter is defined as: “ * * * The creating of a bowl shaped depression around a well caused by an eruption and/or the subsequent uncontrolled discharge of drilling fluid and/or gas and/or water and/or air and/or oil from such well or as the collapsing of the earth’s structure beneath the unit.”

At the trial, the cause of the fig’s fall was not positively or unequivocally established. Some witnesses'‘gave testimony contem- ' plated to show that the fall 'may have been due to a defect in the working of the hydraulic “rams” used in the loading operation caused by an incorrect method of “bleeding” the air from them, immediately beforehand, while .others .gave testimony contemplated to show that the fall was due to a combination of wind force and “giving way” of the ground under one leg or side of the derrick. This issue was submitted to the jury to be determined, under the court’s instructions, by answering the following interrogations:

“1. Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the damage and loss sustained by plaintiffs was proximately- caused by ‘wind storm’, as ' defined in the instructions?
“2. Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the damage and loss sustained by plaintiffs" was proximately caused by ‘cratering’, as defined in the instructions?
“3. Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that. ihe..damage and loss sustained by plaintiffs was • proximately caused by the two* elements,- ‘wind storm’ and ‘cratering’, acting together coincidentally as those terms have been defined in the instructions ? . .
“4. Do you find from the evidence thát the damage and loss sustained by plaintiffs' was caused by a defect in the machinery or equipment being, used by plaintiffs, or a failure of such machinery or equipment (t)o per(o)perly perform, or was due to some other cause other than ‘windstorm’ or ‘cratering’, as those terms have been defined'in ' the instructions ?”

The only answer to any of the above interrogations that was incorporated in the verdict the jury returned, was an affirmative answer to Interrogatory No. 3.

After the jury’s verdict, the issue, of whether the “co-insurance” feature of the standard policy applied to the loss involved *774 was tried to the court without a jury. In accordance with the jury’s above-described determination on the first issue and the court’s determination on this latter issue, judgment was entered for plaintiffs in the full amount of the loss. The defendant thereafter perfected the present appeal.

Defendant’s argument for reversal appears in its briefs under seven propositions. Because of its fundamental bearing upon some of the other propositions, we consider first defendant’s Proposition VII, which is to the effect that plaintiffs’ cause of action, if any, should have been based upon the policy of “permanent” insurance it issued plaintiff, rather than upon the “temporary” binder. Defendant’s argument under this proposition is worthy of little consideration. It is not only ambiguous — it is self-contradictory. Counsel first refers to the binder providing that the insurance afforded thereunder shall become void upon delivery of a policy. They follow this with the statement that said provision shows that when the policy is “issued, the binder is voided * * * ”. (Emphasis ours). The first, rather than the last statement, is correct. The true and exact wording of the binder’s provision referred to in said argument is: “This insurance is made binding upon the mutual agreement that it shall at once terminate and become void upon delivery of policy (policies) in substitution * * * ”. Though, as hereinbefore mentioned, the policy was dated January 3rd, just as was the binder, and the evidence does not establish just when the policy was “issued”, it is undisputed that it was not delivered to defendants until after the loss occurred.

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1956 OK 36, 296 P.2d 770, 5 Oil & Gas Rep. 757, 1956 Okla. LEXIS 444, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/midwestern-insurance-company-v-rapp-okla-1956.