Walter G. Keyser & Co. v. Insurance Co. of North America

268 A.D. 469, 52 N.Y.S.2d 13, 1944 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3197
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedDecember 22, 1944
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 268 A.D. 469 (Walter G. Keyser & Co. v. Insurance Co. of North America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walter G. Keyser & Co. v. Insurance Co. of North America, 268 A.D. 469, 52 N.Y.S.2d 13, 1944 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3197 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1944).

Opinion

Dore, J.

Plaintiff, an insurance broker, maintains this action against defendant, an insurance company, for $32,149.81 additional commissions claimed to be due the broker for procuring a fire insurance policy from defendant as insurer to the broker’s client, the National Dairy Products Corporation, as insured. After a trial before the court and a jury, the jury returned a verdict in plaintiff’s favor for the full amount claimed and a verdict in favor of plaintiff on defendant’s counterclaim. The trial court, after 'denying defendant’s motion to set aside the verdict, also denied defendant’s motions, on which decision had been reserved, to direct a verdict for defendant and dismiss the complaint. Judgment was entered in plaintiff’s favor on the jury’s verdict with interest and costs in the sum of $39,723.76, and judgment for plaintiff on defendant’s counterclaim. Defendant appeals.

On plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, this court previously affirmed an order denying the motion (sub nom. Beidler & Bookmyer, Inc., v. Insurance Company of North America, 266 App. Div. 770). On a previous trial, the jury disagreed.

The policy dated February 3, 1940, in form was a three-year fire insurance policy in a total amount of $95,000,000 characterized in the’ policy as Provisional ”. It was not the ordinary fire insurance policy covering a specifically identified property at a fixed single premium but covered real and personal property of every kind, buildings, merchandise and equipment owned by the insured and its one hundred subsidiaries in about two thousand places throughout the United States and Canada, including after-acquired property; and, as hereinafter more fully indicated, monthly reports were required on certain changes in values. The only premium fixed in amount was the “ Advanced Premium $164,646 ” on which plaintiff concededly was paid commissions in full in the sum of $16,289.45, and plaintiff’s judgment for almost $40,000 is in addition to this sum.

The policy contained a cancelation clause providing that either party might cancel on a prorata basis on thirty days’ notice. Acting under this clause, the insured, the broker’s client, canceled as of December 1, 1940, prior to the end of the ten months’ period referred to in the policy. Previously, the [471]*471insurer had sent notices of cancelation as of December 3, 1940, the end of such ten months’ period. Finally, both insurer and insured signed a stipulation that the policy be canceled as of December 1, 1940, and it was so canceled. No issue was raised at trial as to defendant’s good faith in connection with the cancelation.

Plaintiff’s recovery of additional commissions is based on the theory that the $16,289.45 commissions previously paid to plaintiff when the policy issued was only one third, paid on account, of the total commissions due on a full three-year premium under a three-year policy although no three-year premium was ever earned or paid to the insurance company; and that the additional commissions reflected by the jury’s verdict were the remaining two thirds of such total commissions.

Plaintiff contends that the policy was treated between the insurer and the insured as one for three years with a “ paid in premium of approximately $500,000 that the broker having procured a complete agreement for a three-year coverage between the insurer and the insured had done all the broker was required to do and was entitled to full commissions on a three-year policy; and that in the absence of any express agreement otherwise, the broker was not limited to commissions on the premium earned up to the time of cancelation.

Defendant contends that it paid in full all commissions due the broker on the only premiums stated in the policy or ever agreed on, earned or paid; that the broker’s right to commission was limited to commission paid on premiums earned up to the time of cancelation; and that the broker having advised the insured to cancel before the end of the interim period of ten months had no right to compensation subsequent to the effective date of cancelation by its ovm principal.

The record establishes there never was any “ paid in premium of approximately $500,000 ” or any premium finally agreed on or paid to the insurance company except the advanced premium of $164,646 and the premium adjustments made on monthly reports. Before plaintiff could recover on its own theory, for additional commissions based on premiums for the balance of the three-year period, plaintiff had the burden of proving a meeting of the minds of the parties on the price of the insurance, viz., the premium agreed to be paid by the insured and required to be accepted by the insurer for coverage during the balance of such three years. All the evidence and the documents in plaintiff’s, as well as in defendant’s case, fail to show that the parties ever fixed any premium or any rate for any [472]*472period except the ten months or less of interim coverage, or any formula by which the premium for the balance of the term could be unconditionally calculated and fixed.

During the interim period, the parties were to agree, if possible, on a rate and premium to be applied thereafter. The insurer, if possible, was to keep the rate on the low basis fixed for.the interim period; but it did not unconditionally bind itself to do so. The insured, if the rate was increased, did not bind itself to accept any higher or different rate. In fact, the insurer _ did submit proposals fixing premiums for the balance of the three years but at a higher rate and premium. Plaintiff submitted these proposals to its own client, the insured, and they were considered and discussed between the parties; but the proposals were not acceptable to the insured and the insured canceled before the end of the interim period. On plaintiff’s own theory of the law applicable to the case, we find the jury’s verdict in plaintiff’s favor is not only against the weight of the evidence but is contrary to the evidence.

In A. S. B. Ins. Co. v. Anderson et al. (130 N. Y. 134) relied on by plaintiff, all the terms of the insurance were complete at inception.

In Riker & Co., Inc., v. Albright (258 App. Div. 494) this court reversed a judgment entered on a jury’s verdict in favor of plaintiff, a broker, and dismissed the complaint on the ground the evidence failed to show a meeting of the minds of the parties since the offer made was conditional and the condition never accepted by defendant. Here the three years ’ insurance was conditioned on defendant’s willingness to continue the insurance beyond the interim period at the low rate fixed for that period or on the willingness of the insured to pay more if defendant raised the rate or premium. The evidence shows without contradiction that neither condition was fulfilled or realized.

But that is not all. This policy included property after acquired and -the insured through its broker was to notify the insurer of such after-acquired property and the policy was to be increased pro rata. It also provided that stock values in warehouses not owned or leased by the insured should be reported monthly as the basis of premium adjustments. During the months the policy was in effect plaintiff, as broker, sent the insurance company such required reports of changes in values and computed premium adjustments and commissions thereon accordingly. This report practice was recognized by indorsement signed by the insured and the insurer and annexed to the policy. No reports were made after cancelation. The coverage

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

Related

Western National Insurance v. Haph Brokerage, Inc.
277 A.D.2d 6 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 A.D. 469, 52 N.Y.S.2d 13, 1944 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walter-g-keyser-co-v-insurance-co-of-north-america-nyappdiv-1944.