UNITED STATES LIABILITY INSURANCE CO. v. Baggett

285 S.W.2d 804
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 10, 1955
Docket6833
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 285 S.W.2d 804 (UNITED STATES LIABILITY INSURANCE CO. v. Baggett) 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
UNITED STATES LIABILITY INSURANCE CO. v. Baggett, 285 S.W.2d 804 (Tex. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

DAVIS, Justice.

This is a suit by J. M.,Baggett and C. E. Sharpe, d/b/a Texarkana Finance Company, against United States Liability Insurance Company of Pennsylvania, to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by them on account of destruction by fire of an automobile owned by J. M. Baggett by virtue of an insurance policy issued by appellant covering the automobile owned by Baggett in which policy Sharpe doing business as Texarkana Finance Company was named as mortgagee. Appellant is a non-resident insurance corporation domiciled in Philadelphia, Pa., and-without a permit to do business in Texas at the time of the issuance of the policy sued upon or at the time of the commencement of this suit. It qualified under art. 21.38, sec. 7 of the Insurance Code of Texas and the order of the trial court to defend this suit by filing the necessary bond. Appellant defended on the ground that the policy which was issued February 27, 1953, had been cancelled by notice of cancellation issued to J. M. Baggett on September 1, 1953, and deposited in the mail on September 2, 1953, with a copy to Sharpe, d/b/a Texarkana Finance Company, and. that no proof of loss was filed by the insured as required by the policy.

It was the contention of appellant that the notice of cancellation complied with the provision of the policy while appellee contended that the notice of cancellation did not comply with the provision of the policy and was ineffective because the address contained iñ the notice of cancellation differed materially from thát of ap-pellee Baggett shown in the policy as will be hereinafter 'more fully discussed.

The evidence is uncontradicted that ap-pellees did not receive either the notice of cancellation or copy.

Trial was to a jury Upon special issues. After the conclusion of appellees’ testimony and after both parties had rested, appellant moved for an instructed verdict which was overruled. All issues were answered in favor of appellees and judgment was. rendered for appellees for the total sum of $1,170 with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from date of judgment, from which judgment appellant has perfected its appeal.

. By its Point 1, appellant complains .of the action of the trial court in overruling its motion for instructed verdict because the policy sued upon had been cancelled as provided for in the • policy of insurance. The address of appellee Baggett as set'out in the policy is as follows:

The address as shown in the notice of cancellation is as follows;

The appellant also offered. in , evidence a receipt from the Post Office Department for one piece of ordinary mail addressed to:

The pertinent provision of the policy relative -to notice of cancellation is as follows :

“ * * * This policy may be canceled by the company by mailing to the insured at the address shown.in this ■policy written notice stating when not less than five days thereafter such
*806 cancelation shall be effective. The • mailing of notice as aforesaid shall be sufficient proof ■ of notice and the effective date and hour of cancelation stated in the notice shall become the-end of the policy period. Delivery of such written notice either by the insured or by the company shall be equivalent to mailing.”

There is a loss payable clause in the policy providing that any loss or damage under the policy shall be payable,’ as interest may appear, to Texarkana Finance Company and this loss payable clause provides for notice to the lien holder of any cancellation not less than 10 days after which such cancellation shall be effective.

Appellant contended that the notice of cancellation being exactly as stated in the policy, with copy of such notice having been mailed to Texarkana Finance Company at the address shown in the loss payable clause cancelled the policy effective as of September 10, 1953. The automobile covered by the policy was destroyed by fire on January 17, 1954.

Appellant relies most heavily’’upon the case of Duff v. Secured Fire & Marine Ins. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 227 S.W.2d 257, 258, no writ history. In that case the address of the insured was shown as follows:

Notice of cancellation was issued and mailed to the insured as follows:

In speaking of whether or not the notice of cancellation complied with the address stated in the policy, the court said:

“Under the above authorities a substantial compliance with the provisions of the policy relating to the address to which the notice must be mailed is not
enough. A strict compliance is necessary. , The situation must be. viewed from the standpoint of the insured at the time the policy was issued. Did he contract for constructive notice such as was given? We have concluded that he did. We take judicial notice that there is only one post office in Texas designated ‘Biggs Field, Texas’. Under the facts of this case the addition of the words ‘El Paso, El Paso County’ would have added nothing to insure delivery of the notice to the insured. The delivery contracted for was to the post office — not to the insured. Any reasonably intelligent post office employee reading the address would know that the envelope which contained the notice was intended for the post office at Biggs Field in El Paso County. The envelope was therefore received for delivery to the post office contracted for. The cases of Gulf Insurance Co. v. Riddle, [Tex. Civ.App., 199 S.W.2d 1000], and Hughes v. Royal Indemnity Co., supra, [Mun.Ct., 165 N.Y.S. 530], are readily distinguishable. In both of these cases the omitted portion of the address had a material bearing on the delivery of the notice to the insured. Such is not true here.”

We do not think this case is in point here.

Appellees in this case contended that the address did not comply with nor conform to the one stated in the policy, because there was a variation between the Post Office box number in the notice of cancellation (Box No. 3P3) and the one stated in the policy and the Post Office receipt (Box..No. 3S3). And, further, that the “Maud, Bowie, Texas” shown in the notice of cancellation and postal receipt was such a variation from the address stated in the policy that the letter could have been sent as easily to Bowie, Texas, as to Maud, Texas. Appellees offered testimony to show that Maud was not. a county seat and was a small rural community of about 800 population, and that Bowie, Tex *807 as, was a city with a post office in the state of Texas with a population of about 6,000. Although the trial court submitted a, special issue inquiring if the defendant mailed written notice of the cancellation of the policy to Baggett at the address shown in the policy, we think that under the state of the record the question was one of law and not of fact, and have concluded that neither the address as stated in the notice of cancellation nor the Post Office receipt conformed to the address shown in the policy.

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Bluebook (online)
285 S.W.2d 804, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-liability-insurance-co-v-baggett-texapp-1955.