Southern Mutual Insurance v. Turnley

27 S.E. 975, 100 Ga. 296, 1897 Ga. LEXIS 44
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 26, 1897
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 27 S.E. 975 (Southern Mutual Insurance v. Turnley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southern Mutual Insurance v. Turnley, 27 S.E. 975, 100 Ga. 296, 1897 Ga. LEXIS 44 (Ga. 1897).

Opinion

‘Simmons, Chief Justice.

A house covered hy a policy of insurance issued hy the Southern Mutual Insurance Company to P. L. Tnrnley, trustee, and Mrs. J. E. Edmondson, was burned, and in pursuance of stipulations in the policy providing for an appraisement hy arbitrators as to the amount of the loss, the [298]*298parties entered into a submission agreeing that an appraisement should be made by certain persons named in the submission, and that the appraisement should be binding. An appraisement was accordingly had, in which the cash value of the property at the time of the fire was found to be $1,818.03. The amount of insurance expressed in the policy was $2,000, but it was provided therein that the company should not be bound for more than three fourths of the actual cash value of the property at the time of the loss. This was before the act of 1895, requiring insurance-companies to pay the full amount of loss up to the amount expressed in the policy. Some time after the appraisement was had, an action iqpon the j>olicy was brought against the company by Turnley as trustee for his wife, and by hlrs. Edmondson, in which they sued for the full amount of the-policy, and for damages on account of bad faith, and attorney’s fees. In the declaration no reference was made to the appraisement; bull; the insuitunoe do-mpiany having pleaded ifc ■in bar, the plaintiffs inltrodueed evidence at ¡the trial by which they sought to show that the arbitration had not been fairly conducted. There was a verdict for the plaintiffs for $1,851 principal, besides interest, ten per cent, damages, and ten per cent, attorney’s fees. The insurance company made a motion for a new trial upon numerous grounds, and the-motion being overruled, it excepted.

1. One of the questions in the case was whether Turnley had, as trustee, such an insurable interest in the property as would authorize him to maintain an action upon the policy; it being contended on the pail of the defendant that the effect of the deed under which Turnley was acting as trustee for his wife, and which was made since the enactment of the married woman’s law of 1866, was to pass the legal title directly to her. On this subject we deem it sufficient to call attention to a section of the code which appears to have been overlooked in the argument of the case, and which declares that “a husband . . . may insure the sep[299]*299arate property of his wife . . . , the recovery being held by him in trust for” her. Oivil Code, §2090.

2-6. Rone- of the questions as to the sufficiency of the'declaration which were raised in the count below were properly brought before us for review. As, however, 'there is to-be a new trial, and tas it should be had upon proper pleadings, we shall deal briefly with this part of the case. In the first place, we think the declaration was defective in failing-to set forth essential parts of the policy. The declaration purported, in an exhibit thereto', to set forth a copy of “what appears upon the face and in the body of the policy”; but, as was disclosed when the policy itself was offered in evidence, stipulations and conditions forming a part of the policy and preceding the signatures of the officers executing-it, were omitted. The part set out in the declaration and exhibit was merely that portion which stated that the insurance company, in consideration of a certain premium, insured the persons to whom the policy was issued, against loss or damage by fire on the property described, to a certain amount for a designated period. It was contended on the part of the plaintiffs that, under §3392 of the Code of 1882, this was all they were required to set out. That section is as follows: “The form .of action to recover money on an insurance policy may he the same as is prescribed in the preceding section, and it shall not he necessary to set forth, in the body of the declaration, allegations of conditions other than may be embraced in the form prescribed in said section; nor shall it be necessary to attach a copy of what may he written, or pointed -upon itflue face -of the policy, except what .appeal’s upon the face .and in -the body of the-policy.” The form of action prescribed in the section referred to -as “the preceding section” is a form for ithe recovery of money on a note, bill, bond, receipt or written promise of any description; and, according to that form, the plaintiff need not, in the body of the declaration, set out the conditions of the contract; hut he is required to add a copy of’ [300]*300the writing sued on. The section relating to actions on inisurance policies, as we have seen, dispenses with the setting forth of a portion of the matter which is sometimes written ■or printed upon policies, but requires that a copy of “what .appears upon the face and in the body of the policy” should he attached. We .see mo reason for supposing that the terms '“’the face” and “the body,” as applied to insurance policies, mean anything less than they would if applied to ■ contracts other than insurance policies. If these words had been used with reference to a deed or other contract signed by the maker, they would he understood as covering what preceded the maker’s signature; and we think the same is true as to insurance policies. We think they include all the stipulations embraced in that part of the policy which precedes the signatures of the officers by whom it is executed. In the new code (which was adopted since this action was brought) the sections here referred to are not retained, though a portion of the same matter will he found in Civil Code, §4963, which provides: “Copies of contracts, •obligations to pay, or other writings should he incorporated in or attached to the petition in all cases in which they constitute the cause of action, or the relief prayed for must be based thereon. In suits to recover money on an insurance policy it shall not he necessary to attach a copy of what may he written or printed upon the policy, except what appears upon the face or in the body of the policy.” As the policy tendered in evidence was apparently a different instrument from that described in the declaration, in that the policy tendered contained upon the face and in the body thereof stipulations and conditions not contained in the exhibit attached to the declaration, which purported to he a copy of what appears upon the face and in the body of the policy ■sued on, the rejection of the evidence would have been warranted. The -def emdanlt, 'however, ns in mo position to complain that the policy was not rejected when objected to' on íthis ground, inasmuch as the conditions therein which it was [301]*301contended were a variance froni the policy sued on were set up in the defendant’s plea as a part of that policy.

As we have seen, the plaintiffs, in bringing their action, ignored the appraisement. The provisions of the policy re.lating to appraisement, so far as here material, are as follows: “In case of any loss on, or damage to, the property herein described, it shall be optional with the company to' rebuild or repair the building or buildings within a reasonable time; . . and if the company shall elect not tor repair or replace the building, the damage of the property shall be ascertained by appraisement of the same, by persons mutually chosen for that purpose.' It is hereby covenanted and agreed that no suit or action on this policy for the recovery of any claim shall be sustainable in any court of law or equity, until after an award has been obtained in the manner herein provided.” These are valid stipulations-constituting conditions precedent to a recovery. Creighton v. Insurance Company, 51 Ga. 95; Am. &

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Bluebook (online)
27 S.E. 975, 100 Ga. 296, 1897 Ga. LEXIS 44, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-mutual-insurance-v-turnley-ga-1897.