Old Colony Insurance v. Berryman Realty Co.

234 S.W. 748, 193 Ky. 7, 21 A.L.R. 292, 1921 Ky. LEXIS 178
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedNovember 22, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 234 S.W. 748 (Old Colony Insurance v. Berryman Realty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Old Colony Insurance v. Berryman Realty Co., 234 S.W. 748, 193 Ky. 7, 21 A.L.R. 292, 1921 Ky. LEXIS 178 (Ky. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinion

[8]*8Opinion op the Court by

Judge Sampson

Affirming.

Appellee, Security Trust Compny, held a mortgage against the entire theatre property, including both the old and new buildings, and all of the policies of insurance contained a provision that in case of loss by fire the insurance should go to the Security Trust Company “as its interest may appear.”

In January, 1916, a fire occurred in the auditorium of the theatre, causing great damage to both building and fixtures. Immediately notice of the fire was given to all of the insurance companies which had issued policies on the building. Acknowledging liability, the insurance companies selected the Southern Adjustment Bureau of Louisville as their representative for the purpose of ad[9]*9justing the entire loss to the insured building, and the owner, Berryman Realty Company, selected Thomas A. Combs as its representative. After a conference between the representative of the insurance companies and the representative of the Berryman Realty Company the loss to the building was fixed at $42,250.00, of which sum $42,000.00 was the estimated loss to the new part of the building and $250.00 was assessed as the loss to the old part of the building. The adjustment company undertook, without authority, to apportion the loss among the several insurance companies in the ratio of the amount of their policies to the whole insurance in force on the building at the time of the fire and in doing so assessed against the Reliance Company on its policy of $4,000.00, issued in 1911, on the old part of the building, before the theatre proper was constructed, $2,139.24, and against the Delaware Insurance Company of Philadelphia the sum of $2,139.24, which these two companies declined to pay, but each offered to pay the sum of $125.00, which was half of the loss suffered by the old building, declaring that the coverage clause of their two policies did not include the new part of the theatre building to which the fire did all but $250.00 of the assessed damage. All the other companies paid the part of the loss apportioned against them. This action was then commenced by the Berryman Realty Company and the mortgagee, Security Trust Company, against all of the insurance companies named to recover $4,278.48, the unpaid balance of the $42,250.00 which was agreed upon by the adjusters as the amount of the loss sustained.

The coverage clause of these two old policies reads as follows: “$4,000.00 on the three-story brick metal roof building, including all permanent fixtures, occupied for ordinary business purposes and dwelling, situated on the north side of and known as No. 121 East Main street, Lexington, Kentucky.” As these two policies were issued some years before the auditorium of the theatre was constructed and was intended at that time to cover only the three-story brick metal roof building, then used as a retail store and office building, it is insisted by the Reliance and Delaware Companies that the liability of these two companies must be confined to such damage .as resulted from fire to the old part of the building, and this is so, unless by subsequent agreement, actual or implied, the coverage clause of the policies was extended so .as to include the addition to the building. Appellants [10]*10contend, (1) That 'the policies of insurance issued by the Delaware and Reliance Companies covered the entire structure and that these companies 'by their own conduct are estopped to deny this contention; (2) that the payments made by the various appellants to the Berryman Realty Company were accepted and were in full discharge of any liability on the part of the respective appellants; (3) that the court erred in sustaining a demurrer to the third paragraph of the answer of the appellants wherein a counterclaim for $4,254.62 was asserted.

It is not contended that the language of the coverage clause above quoted is broad enough to include the auditorium of the theatre, which was erected after the issual of the policies, but it is insisted that the agent of the two companies who issued the policies verbally assured C. H. Berryman, president of the Berryman Realty Company, that the policies covered and included the entire theatre building, and further that the companies are now es-topped to deny liability because they did not cancel their policies, although the said contract contained a clause reading: “If mechanics be employed in the building, altering or repairing the within described premises for more than fifteen days at any one time ” the policy shall be void. The only evidence to support the contention that the agent of the companies by verbal agreement extended the coverage clause was given by Hugh W. Young, one of. the adjusters, and by C. H. Berryman, president of the realty company. The witness Young testified:

“Mr. Berryman said that the insurance was left to Mr. Irvine, that the writing of the insurance was in the hands of Mr. Irvine, and that the policies were supposed to cover the Ben Ali Theatre. I then asked Mr. Irvine why he did not reform the two policies to make them concurrent with the other, and he said that he was too busy to make all the endorsements that the companies required and that the policies were all right and covered the theatre building. ’ ’

Mr. Irvine was agent of both the Delaware and the Reliance Insurance Companies at the time of the issual ■' of the policies and at the time of the fire. The testimony of C. H. Berryman on this point is as follows:

‘ ‘'When the Ben Ali Theatre was erected, which materially increased the value of the property covered by these policies, it was necessary for us to increase the insurance, and the new insurance, together with the amount represented by these two policies, was considered suf[11]*11ficient to protect onr interests.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
234 S.W. 748, 193 Ky. 7, 21 A.L.R. 292, 1921 Ky. LEXIS 178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/old-colony-insurance-v-berryman-realty-co-kyctapp-1921.