U. P. Terminal Federal Credit Union v. Employers Mutual Liability Insurance

109 N.W.2d 115, 172 Neb. 190, 1961 Neb. LEXIS 60
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMay 5, 1961
DocketNo. 34933
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 109 N.W.2d 115 (U. P. Terminal Federal Credit Union v. Employers Mutual Liability Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
U. P. Terminal Federal Credit Union v. Employers Mutual Liability Insurance, 109 N.W.2d 115, 172 Neb. 190, 1961 Neb. LEXIS 60 (Neb. 1961).

Opinion

Yeager, J.

This is an action by U. P. Terminal Federal Credit Union, a corporation, plaintiff and appellant, against Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of Wisconsin, a corporation, defendant and appellee, to recover a judgment for $1,755, with interest, expenses, a reasonable attorney’s fee, and costs. In the action the plaintiff filed a petition to which the defendant filed a general demurrer in which it was asserted that the petition does not state sufficient facts to constitute a cause of action. This demurrer was sustained. The plaintiff elected to stand on its petition and not to plead over. The action was thereupon dismissed. The plaintiff in due course appealed from the judgment of dismissal.

To the extent necessary to set forth herein, the plaintiff in its petition defined the respective capacities of the parties and then alleged that on June 26, 1952, the parties entered into a “Credit Union Chattel Lien Non-filing Bond” which was marked exhibit A and attached to and made a part of the petition; that on March 9, 1955, one Archie R. Tietsort gave a promissory note in the sum of $1,950, secured by a chattel mortgage on an automobile, to the plaintiff on which payments of $65 each for the months of April, May, and June were made; [192]*192that in June 1955, the plaintiff discovered that the automobile had been removed from Douglas County, Nebraska, and its whereabouts did not become known until about June 1958, when it was found in Rawlins, Wyoming, totally wrecked, and against it there were storage charges in excess of its salvage value; that there has been and is due plaintiff from Tietsort $1,755 with interest; and that plaintiff was prevented from obtaining possession of the automobile, and therefore within the meaning of paragraph I of that part of exhibit A designated “Insuring Agreements” the plaintiff is entitled to recover judgment with interest, expenses, an attorney’s fee, and costs from the defendant.

Paragraph I is as follows: “I. COVERAGE. To indemnify the insured for any loss sustained by reason of having in good faith and in the usual course of business purchased, taken, received, made advances on, made loans against or extended credit upon an instrument, as hereinafter defined, but only insofar as the loss results from the insured being prevented from (1) obtaining possession of the property represented by such instrument or retaining the proceeds thereof, or (2) enforcing its rights under such instrument, solely as the result (a) of the failure of the insured or the insured’s representatives duly to record or file the instrument with the proper public officer or public office, or (b) of the failure of the insured or the insured’s representatives duly to have the proper public officer or public office show the insured’s encumbrance on the instrument, or (c) of errors or omissions in the instrument which has been duly recorded or filed with the proper public officer or public office or upon which the proper public officer or public office has shown the insured’s encumbrance.”

The question of whether or not the judgment of the district court was erroneous, as is contended by the plaintiff, depends upon what was embodied in paragraph [193]*193I as the intention of the parties when exhibit A was issued to the plaintiff by the defendant.

It is clear that there was a declared intent of the parties that the defendant was to indemnify the plaintiff for loss in the event the plaintiff had purchased, taken, received, made advances on, or made loans against or extended credit on an instrument or instruments, subject to certain conditions.

The plaintiff contends substantially that its petition stated a cause of action and was not subject to general demurrer since it declared only that it was prevented from recovering the automobile. It contends that these conditions constituted the measure of its right of recovery and that the instrument contains no other provisions which would amount to a bar.

On the other hand the substantial contention of the defendant is that the petition is invalid for the reason that conditions other than and in addition to those advanced by the plaintiff have not been pleaded which are indispensable to a right of the plaintiff to recover indemnity from the defendant, and therefore the petition fails to state a cause of action and is vulnerable to a general demurrer.

The other conditions, one or more of which the defendant insists must attend the prevention from obtaining possession of the property represented by the instrument, are (a) failure of the insured, that is the plaintiff or its representative, to duly record the instrument received from the party from whom the instrument was taken, (b) failure of the plaintiff or its representative to have the proper public officer or office show the plaintiff’s encumbrance on the instrument, or (c) errors or omissions in the instrument which had been filed with the proper public officer or office showing the insured’s encumbrance.

It is true, as is apparent from an examination of the quoted paragraph I, that the conditions upon which the defendant insists are contained there. The plaintiff [194]*194however urges that they have no reference whatever to a situation such as this where indemnity is claimed on account of the alleged fact that it was prevented from obtaining possession of the automobile described in the instrument it had received from Tietsort. It contends substantially that if for any reason it was unable to obtain possession the defendant is liable. It is pointed out here that all of the conditions urged by the defendant were nonexistent. The only reason given as the basis for recovery is inability to locate the automobile.

If the contention of the plaintiff is to be accepted it is of course true that the judgment of the district court was erroneous. Whether or not it is to be accepted depends upon the true intent of the parties to the instrument at the time it was executed and became effective. This intent must be gleaned from the contract itself. The process includes of course the reasonable inferences and implications which flow from the language employed.

A cardinal principle of construction of written instruments is that an interpretation shall be made which will reflect the true intention of the parties. See Baylor v. Hall, 106 Neb. 786, 184 N. W. 886.

Another principle to be recognized is that ordinarily in construing a contract a court will give due force to the grammatical arrangement of the clauses, unless by so doing it appears to be at variance with the intent of the parties as indicated by the contract as a whole. See Baylor v. Hall, supra.

Another statement of principle is that if a clause contained in a written contract would by grammatical construction have one application, and from the tenor of the whole instrument it is manifest that the parties intended it to have a more extended application, it will be construed according to the manifest intention of the parties. See Baylor v. Hall, supra.

The parties to this action have treated it as one based on a contract of insurance. With particular reference [195]*195to interpretation of contracts of insurance this court has announced a number of admonitory rules.

In Coad v. London Assur. Corp., 119 Neb. 188, 227 N. W.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Close-Smith v. Conley
230 F. Supp. 411 (D. Oregon, 1964)
UP TERMINAL FED. CR. U. v. Employers Mut. Liab. Ins. Co.
109 N.W.2d 115 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1961)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
109 N.W.2d 115, 172 Neb. 190, 1961 Neb. LEXIS 60, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/u-p-terminal-federal-credit-union-v-employers-mutual-liability-insurance-neb-1961.