Reynolds v. Pacific Marine Insurance

178 P. 811, 105 Wash. 666, 1919 Wash. LEXIS 616
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 28, 1919
DocketNo. 15198
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 178 P. 811 (Reynolds v. Pacific Marine Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reynolds v. Pacific Marine Insurance, 178 P. 811, 105 Wash. 666, 1919 Wash. LEXIS 616 (Wash. 1919).

Opinion

Main, J.

This action was brought by the plaintiffs as owners of the gasoline boat “Arnold”, against the Pacific Marine Insurance Company, the defendant, on a policy of marine insurance. After the issues were framed, the cause came on for trial before the court and a jury. The trial resulted in a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. The filing of the verdict and the entry of the, judgment were ordered withheld pending the ruling of the court on the defendant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Motion for a new trial was also made. Both the motions were by the court denied, and a judgment entered upon the verdict, from which judgment the defendant appeals.

The respondents open their brief with a motion to dismiss the appeal, claiming that the notice of appeal was not taken within the ninety days allowed by law. The verdict was rendered on the 24th day of April, 1918, and was ordered withheld from filing, pending a ruling on the motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. A motion for a new trial was also made. On the 19th day of June, 1918, an order was entered overruling both motions. On June 24th, 1918, a judgment was entered on the verdict. This is the first judgment that was entered. The notice of appeal was served on the 19th day of September, 1918, and filed on the 21st of that month. Prom these facts it is plain that the appeal was taken within ninety days from the entry of the judgment.

The facts in this case are in many respects the same as those recited in Reynolds v. Canton Insurance Co., [668]*66898 Wash. 425, 167 Pac. 1115. The action is brought by the same parties, but against a different insurance company. It is for recovery for the loss of the Arnold by fire, which is the same boat and the same fire for which recovery was had in that case upon a policy of marine insurance issued by the Canton Insurance Company. In some respects, however, the facts in this case are materially different from those in the case referred to. This difference will be subsequently pointed out.

The facts which present the questions to be determined in this case may be recited as follows: On April 23, 1915, S. B. Reynolds and William Valen were the owners of the Arnold which was employed in carrying freight and passengers to Alaskan ports. On this day, or a day or two later, Reynolds applied to Norman Waterhouse & Company, a corporation, for insurance covering the Arnold in the sum of $5,000. The application recited:

“Have this Policy specify that the said Launch will sail from Seattle, Washington, to Cape Yagataga, Seward, Cook’s Inlet, plying between said ports and other waters of South Eastern Alaska”.

When the insurance was written, the policy or policies were directed to be delivered to the National City Bank, in Seattle. Waterhouse & Company caused the boat to be surveyed for the purpose of determining its seaworthiness. $2,000 of the insurance was written in the Canton Insurance Company, of which Waterhouse & Company was then the agent. It was this policy that was involved in the case above referred to. On April 30th, 1915, Waterhouse & Company applied to the firm of Bowden, Gazzam & Arnold for a policy in the sum of $1,000 in the Pacific Marine Insurance Company, the appellant. At this time [669]*669Bowden, Gazzam & Arnold were not the licensed recording or policy writing agents of the appellant, hut were in some respects agents. The application by that firm was submitted to the home office of the company in Vancouver, B. O. The application was approved and a policy written for $1,000. The application which Waterhouse & Company presented to Bowden, Gazzam & Arnold contained this recital:

“Warranted during the currency of this policy vessel to be employed in the waters of Puget Sound, British Columbia and Southeastern Alaska”.

The application was for insurance for the period of one year from April 30th, 1915. The policy written covered this period and contained, on the margin of the face of the policy, a recital as follows:

“Warranted to be employed during the currency of this policy in the waters of Puget Sound, British Columbia and Southeastern Alaska, inland waters not north of Wrangel Narrows”.

The recital in the application and this recital on the margin of the policy are substantially to the same effect, which was that the boat was not to be covered by the policy if it was employed beyond the waters of Southeastern Alaska. In connection with making the application for the $1,000 insurance in the Pacific Marine Insurance Company, Waterhouse & Company submitted to Bowden, Gazzam & Arnold the survey- or’s report covering the gas boat Arnold. This report was on a printed blank form and covered many details. On the line after the word “employment” in the report appeared this: “General trading, SouthE Alaska, Yakutat and Seward.” Yakutat and Seward were in Southwestern Alaska. Waterhouse & Company was not the agent for the Pacific Marine [670]*670Insurance Company and was not known in the transaction by that company.

On July 21st, 1915, the Arnold, while near the entrance to Cook’s Inlet and beyond the trading limits specified, both in the policy and in the application by Waterhouse & Company to Bowden, Gazzam & Arnold, was destroyed by fire. The location of the boat at the time of its destruction was in what is known as the waters of Southwestern Alaska.

The facts in this case differ from the facts in the Canton case in this: There the application was made by Reynolds to Waterhouse & Company, the agent of that insurance company. Here, the application was made by Waterhouse & Company, not an agent of the Pacific Marine Insurance Company, to Bowden, Gazzam & Arnold, as agents of that company, for the policy of insurance. The policy, after it was written, was forwarded to Bowden, Gazzam & Arnold, and by that firm delivered to Waterhouse & Company, who in turn delivered it to the National City Bank. When the policy was delivered, the boat had sailed on its last voyage and neither of the owners thereof knew of the marginal clause limiting the policy to the waters of Southeastern Alaska. This clause in the policy will prevail, and there is no liability, unless there are facts which would estop the company from reliance on that provision.

It may be admitted that, if Waterhouse & Company was the agent of the Pacific Marine Insurance Company, as related to this policy, under the evidence, the question of whether or not the insurance company was estopped would be one of fact for the jury and the verdict would be controlling. On the other hand, if Waterhouse & Company, so far as this policy is concerned, operated as a broker and was thereby the [671]*671agent of the owners of the boat, the knowledge of that company would not be imputed to the Pacific Marine Insurance Company. It becomes important, then, to determine whether Waterhouse & Company was a broker in this transaction, or became an agent.

In 1911, the legislature enacted what is known as the insurance code. Laws of 1911, Ch. 49, p. 161 (Rem. Code, § 6059-1 et seq.) Section 2 (Id. § 6059-2), is largely, if not entirely, devoted to the defining of terms which are used throughout the act.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
178 P. 811, 105 Wash. 666, 1919 Wash. LEXIS 616, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reynolds-v-pacific-marine-insurance-wash-1919.