Scottish Union & National Ins. v. Moore Mill & Gin Co.

1914 OK 249, 143 P. 12, 43 Okla. 370, 1914 Okla. LEXIS 532
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 26, 1914
Docket3403-3407
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 1914 OK 249 (Scottish Union & National Ins. v. Moore Mill & Gin Co.) 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
Scottish Union & National Ins. v. Moore Mill & Gin Co., 1914 OK 249, 143 P. 12, 43 Okla. 370, 1914 Okla. LEXIS 532 (Okla. 1914).

Opinion

*372 TURNER, J.

On November 30, 1907, in the district court of Greer county, Moore Mill & Gin Company, in five separate actions (subsequently by agreement transferred to the district court of Grady county), sued Scottish Union & National Insurance Company, Palatine Insurance Company, National Eire Insurance Company, German-American Insurance Company, and Commercial Union Assurance Company, to recover on five insurance policies for $5,000 each issued to plaintiff by the respective defendant companies. The first four covered the same property, and read $5,000 on “their unginned cotton while contained in six frame warehouses” located on certain blocks in Mangum; that of the last-named defendant covered both ginned and unginned cotton located at the same place, all the property of plaintiff. Each of the policies was dated February 21, 1907, except that of the last-named defendant, which was of date March 4, 1907. The pleadings being the same in all the cases, they were tried together by agreement, and resulted in a judgment for plaintiff for the full amount of each policy, and defendants bring the case here.

The petition substantially states that at the time of the loss the insured property was of the cash value of $52,000, that the same was destroyed by fire on April 22, 1907, except 746,910 pounds thereof, of the cash value of $4,000, and that the total loss was $48,000. It further alleged that, in addition to the five policies above named, the Virginia State Insurance Company had three policies outstanding on said property, that is, one for $1,500, one for $750, and one for $250. It was further alleged that each of the policies sued on was due and payable to plaintiff; that it had given notice of loss and performed all conditions precedent to its right to recover prescribed therein; that within 60 days it had furnished defendant with proofs of loss, and “that the defendant, through its duly authorized agent, waived any further or other notice or proof of loss, and agreed with plaintiff that no question would be raised as to the plaintiff having complied with the terms and conditions of the policy, and that the only question in dispute between the plaintiff and defendant was, and should be, the amount of loss sustained by *373 plaintiff and recoverable under the terms of said policy.” And, after alleging that more than 60 days had elapsed since proof of loss had been furnished as required, and that defendant had refused to pay the loss, plaintiff prayed judgment for the full amount of the policy.

Counsel for plaintiff in error assign that the court erred in overruling its objection to the introduction of any evidence in support of the petition because, it says, the same fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.

The policy reads:

“$5,000 on their unginned cotton while contained in six frame warehouses. * * *
“Pro Rata Clause: It is hereby agreed that in case of loss, this policy shall attach in or on each building or division in such proportion as the value in or on each building or division bears to the aggregate value of the subjects insured.”

But for this provision, says plaintiff in error, the policy would be a blanket policy; containing it, it says, the same is a specific policy. The policy further reads:

“Three-Fourths Loss Clause: It is understood and agreed to be a condition of this insurance that, in the event of loss by fire of the property described herein, this company shall not be liable for an amount greater than three-fourths of the actual loss on each item of property described herein- (not exceeding the amount insured on each such item), and in the event of additional insurance hereon, this company shall be liable for its proportion only of three-fourths of such loss on each item not exceeding the amount insured on each such item. Other concurring insurance permitted but total insurance shall at no time exceed three-fourths of the cash value of each item of the property described herein.”
“Therefore,” says plaintiff in error, “* * * considering these two provisions together, that is, the pro rata clause and the three-fourths loss and co-insurance clause, it is plain that the defendant in error would not be entitled to recover anything on its policies until it had shown the amount of loss in each of the warehouses.”
“And, it being necessary for defendant in error to prove the amount of loss or damage in each warehouse, it must conclusively follow that it was necessary to allege it in its petition.”

*374 Not so. Written as it is, this is a specific policy, which places $5,000 on plaintiff’s unginned cotton while contained in six frame warehouses as one item. -Had the policy distributed the $5,000 among the several warehouses as separate items of insurance by placing a specified amount on each item, there might have been merit in the contention. But such it does not do, and, the form of policy being such that this might have been done had the insurer chosen so to write it, it is clear that the provision relied on was only intended to apply to the policy when so written. The distinction between blanket and specific policies is nowhere made clearer than in Schmaelzle v. London, etc., Ins. Co., 75 Conn. 397, 53 Atl. 863, 60 L. R. A. 536, 96 Am. St. Rep. 233. In that case plaintiff was the owner of certain premises upon which stood a brewery and shed. The brewery contained machinery and stock. Upon the buildings, machinery, and stock, the plaintiff carried, in some 34 companies, insurance against fire, aggregating $60,000. The policies all contained this provision:

“This company shall not be liable under this policy for a greater proportion of any loss on the described property * * * than the amount hereby insured shall bear to the whole insurance, whether valid or not, or by solvent or insolvent insurers, covering such property.”

Distinguishing between the two kinds of policies the court said:

“Thirty-one of the policies covering insurance for $55,000 were of the kind known as blanket or compound policies; that is, they insured said buildings, machinery, and stock as a whole and without distributing the amount of the insurance among the several items. The remaining policies, containing insurance for $5,000, were of the kind known as specific; that is, the amounts insured thereby were distributed among the several items of property, a specified amount to each item. Each of these specific policies covered, in the whole, precisely the same property as did the compound insurance, but distributively. The manner of distribution was uniform among the specific policies, and was among four separate items, to wit, the main or brewery building, stock, machinery, and shed, as follows: $1,634.88 on the brewery, $1,839.21 on the stock, $1,498.64 on the machinery, and $27.24 on the shed.
*375 “* * * The characteristic features óf a blanket policy .are well understood. Its very essence is that it covers to its full amount every item of property described in it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1914 OK 249, 143 P. 12, 43 Okla. 370, 1914 Okla. LEXIS 532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scottish-union-national-ins-v-moore-mill-gin-co-okla-1914.