Siltz v. Hawkeye Ins.

29 N.W. 605, 71 Iowa 710
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedOctober 19, 1886
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 29 N.W. 605 (Siltz v. Hawkeye Ins.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Siltz v. Hawkeye Ins., 29 N.W. 605, 71 Iowa 710 (iowa 1886).

Opinion

Beck, J.

I. We will, in the consideration of the'case, notice the objections to the judgment in the order of their presentation by defendant’s counsel, and will state the facts involved in each point in connection with the discussion thereof.

1. Evidence: admission: error without prejudice. E. S. Siltz, the husband of plaintiff,- and a witness in her behalf, testified that, three or four days after the fire, W. C. Cole came to the house of the witness, claiming 7 » io represent defendant, and that the purj>ose of ]^8 yisit was to settle and adjust the loss. He made out proofs of loss. The witness was then permitted to state, over defendant’s objection, that Cole said he was the assistant secretary of defendant. The evidence was admitted upon the proposition of plaintiff’s counsel to follow it with other evidence showing the official relation of Cole to defendant. Such evidence was afterwards introduced, and shows conclusively that he was the assistant secretary, and a director and stockholder of the company; that he visited the plaintiff as an agent of the company, after the loss, with reference to it; and that he prepared papers, or superintended or assisted in their preparation, pertaining to the proofs of [712]*712loss, though he did not complete such proofs. The fact-that Cole was assistant secretary of defendant being conclusively established by other testimony, tlie admission in evidence of his declarations or statements to that effect, if erroneous, is without prejudice to defendant.

2. Fire Insurance: action on policy: designation op lost goods: evidence. II. The policy covered certain personal property, described in it as “restaurant goods.” A'witness was asked the value o1^ ^ese g°°ds, and in response was permitted, ovei’ defendant’s objection, to state it. The objee^011 is based upon the ground that the question called upon the witness to construe the language of the policy, and determine what goods were covered by the description. There is no force in the objection. If the goods were so generally known as to be described in the policy by the designation “restaurant goods,” it will be presumed that the witness understood the designation. lie certainly could refer to the goods by the' name used in the policy to designate them. If any question existed as to the goods valued by him belonging to the class covered by the policy, the witness could have been called-on, in the cross-examination, to further describe the goods to which he referred in his answer.

3. Appeal: points not argued. III. Two or three objections to the admission of evidence are referred to in defendant’s argument simply by a statement of the points made, without any argument thereon. We are not required to consider points not argued.

4. Instructions: method of presenting issues. IT. The policy contains a condition to the effect that, in case of loss, if there be liens or incumbrances on the property, defendant shall be liable for no more than. three-fourths of the interest of assured, after deducting from the actual cash value of the property the amount of the liens or incumbrances. The answer alleges that there was a mortgage upon the property, and that its value, determined by the terms of the policy, did not exceed the amount due upon the mortgage. Counsel for [713]*713defendant complain that the court below omitted to present the issues raised by this defense. There is no ground for this complaint. The defense pleaded, and the issues thereon, are fairly and fully presented in an instruction, — the tenth. It is as well presented in that connection as though it had been found in the statement of the pleadings and issues preceding the instructions.

5. Fire Insurance: action on policy: value op property: evidence. Y. The court, in the same instruction, directed the jury, if they found plaintiff entitled to recover, to deduct the amount of the mortgage from the value of the ° ° . property, and ii the ' sum thus ascertained equaled or exceeded the amount they found for plaintiff, which must not exceed the sum insured on the property, they could render a verdict for the plaintiff in the amount thus found for her. Counsel insist that this instruction should not have been given, for the reason that there was no evidence of the value of the property. Upon this question there was no controversy in the evidence at the trial. Plaintiff testified that she gave $3,500 for the real estate, and its value is stated at that sum in the application for insurance. In the absence of any evidence or claim to the contrary, the jury were authorized, for the purpose of the inquiry, to find its value in that sum.

6. -: -: fraud of insured: instructions. YI. The policy contained a condition to the effect that “any fraud, or attempt to defraud, or false oath or deelaration, or claim for an amount more than is actually due,” shall defeat recovery on the policy. The answer alleges that plaintiff violated this condition by filing her petition in this case, under oath, alleging the value of the property destroyed to be $1,000, and that the amount of the policy ($750) is due her, and did not disclose the existence of the mortgage; that she further violated it in her proofs of loss, by stating the value of the personal property at a sum in excess of its true value; and that she also violated the condition by claiming, in her proofs ■ of loss, a sum largely in excess of what was actually due her. It is [714]*714insisted that this defense was not fairly and fully presented by instructions to the jury. The ground of counsel’s comjdaint is that the court did not,distinguish between fraud and attempt to defraud, and direct the jury accordingly. We think it was needless for the court to burden the jury with such distinctions and instructions, and that the jury were sufficiently instructed upon the issue presented by the defense. The answer alleges certain acts and omissions of the plaintiff which it is claimed, under the condition in question, are sufficient to defeat recovery. The court below correctly directed the jury as to the-legal effect of the acts of plaintiff relied iqion to support the defense. It was not necessary nor important that the'court should have considered or directed •the jury to consider whether these acts were frauds or attempts to defraud. Without such an inquiry, the jury were well prepared to find, as to the facts, in accord with the instructions of the court.

VII. The defendant, as a defense under a condition of the policy, set up in its answer the existence of a mortgage. The plaintiff in her reply alleged that, when the insurance was effected, she fully explained to defendant’s agent all matters connected with the mortgage, the date of its execution, and amount paid upon it, the date of its maturity, the fact that she held a valid defense for a partial failure of consideration, which she intended to set up, and that, in order to obtain an abatement of the amount due upon the face of the mortgage, she was advised that it would be necessary to permit an action of foreclosure to be brought upon it, which she intended to do. She further stated in her reply that any breaches of the condition of the policy -which may • have occurred were waived by the act of the assistant secretary of defendant in requiring and taking proof of loss, which he pronounced sufficient, at the same time informing plaintiff that the loss would be paid.

VIII.

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Bluebook (online)
29 N.W. 605, 71 Iowa 710, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/siltz-v-hawkeye-ins-iowa-1886.