National Union Fire Ins. v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co.

4 F. Supp. 25, 1933 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1412
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Kentucky
DecidedMay 5, 1933
DocketNo. 744
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 4 F. Supp. 25 (National Union Fire Ins. v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Union Fire Ins. v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co., 4 F. Supp. 25, 1933 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1412 (E.D. Ky. 1933).

Opinion

ANDREW M. J. COCHRAN, District Judge.

These two actions are before me on plaintiffs’ motions to remand to the state court, whence they were removed by defendant. The plaintiff Rosamond M. Seese was the owner of a dwelling house and the household and kitchen furniture therein in Salt Lick, Bath county, in this district, through which defendant’s railroad runs. The house and its contents were totally destroyed by fire September 7, 1930. At that time she had an insurance policy on the house and its contents with the plaintiff National Union Fire Insurance Company in the sum of $3,000’. Thereafter, just when not appearing, it paid the plaintiff Seese $3,000 in satisfaction of its liability on the policy. On September 22, 1932, over two years after the fire, these two actions were brought against the defendant to recover damages on account of the fire. In each the damages claimed were $3,000, an. amount less than that of which this court has jurisdiction. The actions seemed to have been brought in the order given in the caption of this opinion. The amount sought to be recovered in the first action was the amount which the plaintiff insurance company had paid in satisfaction of its policy. The right to recover same was based on the claim that such plaintiff was subrogated to the right of' the plaintiff Seese to the extent of the amount so paid and she was joined as plaintiff for its-use and benefit. No allegation was made as-to the value of the property destroyed and no reference was made in the petition as to-any action by the plaintiff Seese. In the petition in her action it was alleged that she carried a policy for $3,000’ with plaintiff on the property destroyed which had been paid and that such property was worth $3,000 over and above the amount so paid for which recovery was sought. No reference was made-to the bringing of the other action.

There was but a single cause of action-against the defendant for"’the damages sustained by the fire and that in favor of the-plaintiff Seese, the owner of the property. The plaintiff insurance company had a right, perhaps, to join as plaintiff in the action on account of its interest in the recovery to the-extent of $3,000. The. cause of action was split and the two actions were brought to prevent a removal to this court. This is not avowed by plaintiffs or alleged by defendant in its petition for removal. But there can be no doubt that such was the ease. There is no-[27]*27other explanation for the course pursued. That this procedure was illegal is well settled.

In 26 C. J. p. 464, it is said: “Where insurer by payment of the insurance money becomes subrogated to the remedy of the insured against a person whose wrongful or negligent act has caused destruction of the insured property by fire, the question as to who may or must bring the action against the wrongdoer becomes important, the wrongful act of such third person being indivisible and giving but one cause of action. The general rule of law is that in such a ease the insurer must work out his remedy through the insured and assert his right to recover against the wrongdoer in the name of the insured.” As to the law where the loss exceeds the insurance, as here, on page 466 it is said: “When the loss exceeds the amount of the insurance, so that payment under an insurance contract constitutes but a partial satisfaction of the damages sustained leaving a residue to be made good to the wrongdoer, a question has arisen as to whether the action against the wrongdoer for the recovery of the portion paid by the insurer should be undertaken in the name of the insurer or insured. The tendency of the courts seems to be to hold that the action must be brought in the name of the insured and that the insurer is not a necessary party.”

Again it is said: “Insured may sue for his own benefit and for the benefit of the insurer the wrongdoer for the loss caused by the wrong; and where the action is brought by the insured in his own name against the ■wrongdoer to recover the full amount of the loss he sustains toward the insurer the relation of trustee, in respect of such portion of the amount recovered as the former under his contract has been compelled to pay.” And again it is said: “Conversely, where the action is brought by the insurer in .the name of the insured, or in his own name when permitted to do so, to enforce his right acquired by subrogation on having paid the insurance money, if the insured has sustained loss beyond that paid by insurer, the entire liability of the wrongdoer, can be determined in the suit, and if the insurer in such ease recovers a judgment, he may retain the sum which he has paid the insured and interest thereon, the balance of the money so collected being the property of the insured.” Still further it is said: “Under the practice in some jurisdictions, on the theory that the insured and the insurer after payment of the insurance become joint owners of the cause of action against the wrongdoer, each should be made a party to the action either as plaintiff or defendant according to the exigencies of the case.”

According to these quotations, therefore, where the loss exceeds the insurance there is. but a single cause of action and but one action should be brought. No right to split the cause of action and to bring two actions, one by the insurance company for the amount paid by it, and the other by the insured for the excess value of the property destroyed over and above such payment, exists. In Norwich Union Fire Ins. Soc. v. Standard Oil Co. (C. C. A.) 59 F. 984, 987, the leading federal authority on the subject, it is said: “When an insurance company pays to the assured the amount of a loss of the property insured, it is subrogated, in a corresponding amount, to the assured’s right of action against any other person responsible for the loss. This right of the insurer against such other person is derived from the assured alone, and can be enforced in his right only. At common law it must be asserted in the name of the assured. In a court of equity or of admiralty, or under the modem codes of practice, it may be asserted by the insurance company in its own name, when it has paid the insured the full value of the property destroyed. * * * But the rule seems to be well settled that, when the value of the property exceeds the insurance money paid, the suit must be brought in the name of the assured. * * * In such an action the assured may recover the full value of the property from the wrongdoer, but as to the amount paid him by the insurance company he becomes a trustee.” It is further said: “The wrongful act is single and indivisible and can give rise to but one liability.”

I know of no Kentucky decision to the contrary of the law as thus laid down, and I am satisfied that there is none. The question has frequently arisen as to whether where a person and his property are injured at the same time and by the same wrong, separate actions may be brought for each injury or a single one for both. The majority of the courts hold that but a single action shall be brought for both injuries. The Kentucky Court of Appeals’ position is that of the majority. In the case of Cassidy v. Berkovitz, 169 Ky. 785, 185 S. W. 129, 130, it is said: “The injuries to appellee and to his horse and wagon were, the result of the same accident, and constituted but a single cause of action against the defendants which could and should have been included in one action against them. It is against the policy [28]

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Bluebook (online)
4 F. Supp. 25, 1933 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1412, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-union-fire-ins-v-chesapeake-o-ry-co-kyed-1933.