St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Stell

20 S.W.2d 399
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 19, 1929
DocketNo. 834.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 20 S.W.2d 399 (St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Stell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Stell, 20 S.W.2d 399 (Tex. Ct. App. 1929).

Opinion

STANFORD, J.

This suit was filed by ap-pellee, T. C. Stell, against appellant, to recover $1,000 insurance on his stock of goods, which was totally destroyed by fire. Appel-lee alleged, in substance, that on February 25, 102T, appellant, through J. A. Christie, its local agent at Irene, Hill county, Tex., executed and delivered to appellee its policy of insurance No. 158642, insuring appellee' against loss by fire on his stock of goods from noon February 25, 1927, to noon February 25, 1928, in the sum of $1,009; that said policy provided for its renewal; that about February 15, 1928, appellee contracted with appellant to renew said policy for another year at its expiration on February 25, 1928; that appellee relied upon appellant to renew said policy, and that, if it had been renewed by appellant, as said appellant had agreed to do, said renewal policy would' have been substantially the same policy as No. 158642, which is made a part of appellee’s pleading; that, by reason of said verbal agreement on the part of appellant with ap-pellee to renew said policy and the satisfaction of the premium therefor by appellee, appellant became bound and obligated to protect appellee against loss by fire on his said stock of goods to the same extent as if appellant had actually renewed for another year said original policy No. 158642; that appellant failed to renew said policy, as it agreed and contracted with appellee to do, and as ap-pellee relied upon it to so do; and that on February 27, 1928, two days after the expiration of the original policy as per its terms, the building and appellee’s entire stock of goods therein contained were totally destroyed by fire, etc.

Appellant pleaded a general demurrer, a general denial, a provision prohibiting other insurance, a denial of the authority of J. A. Christie, and that, if Christie as agent of appellant did make the verbal agreement to renew the policy, he failed to report same to appellant’s general agents at Houston, that the original policy contained the record warranty clause, requiring complete itemized inventories of stock, and of business transacted by appellee, the iron safe clause, the three-fourths clause, etc.; and alleged that, if said policy had been renewed, it would have contained all of said clauses, and that all'of said provisions were breached, etc.

In response to special issues the jury found:

(1) That on or about the 15th day of February, 1928, and prior to the 25th day of February, 1928, J. A. Christie, as agent of the defendant, St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company, did, in consideration of the regular premium to be paid by plaintiff, have an understanding and make an unconditional agreement with plaintiff to renew the certain $1,-000 fire insurance policy dated February 25, 1927, and being the same policy that has been introduced in evidence in this case.

(2) That the reasonable cash market value of plaintiff’s fixtures so insured at the time of the fire on the 27th day of February, 1928, was $750.

(3) That the reasonable cash market value of the stock of merchandise of plaintiff so insured at the time of the fire on February 27, 1928, was $3,500.

(4) That in the fire of' February 27, 1928, plaintiff sustained a total loss of the stock and fixtures so insured.

On said findings and such other findings as the court, under the pleadings and evidence, was authorized to make, the court entered judgment for appellee for $1,000, from which judgment the appellant has duly appealed and presents sthe record here for review.

Under its first proposition, appellant contends the court erred in refusing to instruct a verdict in its favor for the following reasons:

(a) Because there was no evidence to show any specific loss to any specific item of property, and appellee’s testimony as to the loss was too vague to support the judgment. The record discloses that appellee was a merchant in the town of Irene, doing a general merchandise business, principally groceries, but that he also carried feed and cold drinks, and had fixtures. The original policy was for $250 on the fixtures and $750 on ap-pellee’s stock. The evidence is undisputed, and the jury found, that at the time of the fire appellee’s fixtures were of the reasonable value of $750, and that his stock of merchandise was of the reasonable value of $3,500. The jury found, and the evidence is conclusive, that appellee’s fixtures and his entire stock were totally destroyed. Thfere being nothing left of either stock or fixtures to *401 salvage, it was impossible, and we think was not required to show specific loss to specific articles of property. There is no merit in the above contention.

(b) Because the evidence as to loss sustained included items not covered by the policy. The policy coverage was $250 on the fixtures and upon the merchandise as follows: “$750.00 on stock of merchandise consisting principally of groceries and cold drinks and other merchandise not more hazardous such as usually kept for sale in a grocery store.” The evidence shows appellant, in addition to groceries, also carried some feed. There is no evidence that it is unusual for a grocery store in the country or in a small country town to also carry feed, and this court, in the absence of any evidence, will not so presume. Neither will we presume that feed is more hazardous than groceries. There is no pleading nor proof by appellant that appellee, handled anything more hazardous than groceries and cold drinks.

(c) Because, as appellant contends, there was no evidence offered to support his claim that he made a definite contract or agreement with the agent of appellant to renew his insurance upon his stock of goods and fixtures. The jury found that appellee made such contract with the agent of appellant. We will not undertake to set out the evidence supporting such finding, but will say we 'have examined same, and find the evidence is not only ample to support the jury’s finding, but there is no evidence to the contrary.

(d) Appellant contends further that ap-pellee made no proof of loss in accordance with the provisions of the contract pleaded by him, in that, if the original contract had been renewed, as appellee claims appellant had contracted to do, then it would ¿ave been the same policy, except as to date of beginning and expiration, as No. 158642, and would have contained the same coverage, conditions, and provisions, and so would have contained the “record warranty clause,” the “iron safe clause,” the “no other insurance clause,” and the “three-fourths insurance clause,” the “inventory clause,” and that all of said provisions were breached, etc. The- law is well settled in this state that an insurance company, through its duly authorized agent, may contract’ by parol for the renewal of a fire insurance policy; _ and, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, the presumption is that the renewal is upon the same terms, conditions, and amount as provided in the original policy. United States Fire Ins. Co. v. Fife et al. (Tex. Civ. App.) 6 S.W.(2d) 211; Cohen v. Ins. Co., 67 Tex. 325, 3 S. W. 296, 60 Am. Rep. 24; American Cent. Ins. Co. v. Robinson (Tex. Civ. App.) 219 S. W. 277; Republic Ins. Co. v. Poole (Tex. Civ. App.) 257 S. W. 624; Orient Ins. Co. v. Wingfield, 49 Tex. Civ. App. 202, 108 S. W. 788; Austin Fire Ins. Co. v. Adams-Childers Co. (Tex. Civ. App.) 232 S. W. 339. That J. A.

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20 S.W.2d 399, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-paul-fire-marine-ins-co-v-stell-texapp-1929.