Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-05-23
INSURANCE UNDER
SPECIAL PROVISION
OF DELAWARE LAW
First Cases of the Kind in the
Country, and Decision is a
Precedent.
INSURERS MUST COMPLY

stan Correspondence OF Every Evening.
Dover. May 2a.--The Superior court
for Kent county has renewed discus
sion in two cases of assumpit, James Il.
Bice VS.. the Home Insurance Co, and
Bice VS.. the Industrial Fire Insurance
Co, to recover for damages done by fire
at the Bice store in 1920. The cases
hinged on one short clause, as fol-
lows. "1t is agreed between the In
surer and insured that the value Of the
insured property IL of the sum OF
$50" in the case stated the amount
being fixed at $4,000.
The case is the first of It's kind In
the history of Delaware and no cases
were found elsewhere in the country,
making the opinion of the Court of
Delaware precedent In such Insurance
cases.
Chief Justice delivered the opinion Of
the court. which set forth these facts;
That at the time of said fire, the
total amount of the insurance on the
said property was $4,000, $4,000 of
which was under the policy hereto at
tached (the Home Insurance Col, and
the remaining $4,000 was under policy
issued by the Industrial Fire Insurance
Co.
That each of the said policies was is
sued with and under the so per cent
reduced rate contribution clause;
That a dispute having arisen between
The plaintiff and the defendant land al
so between the plaintiff and the In
iustrial Fire Insurance Col as to the
amount OF the loss sustained by the
plaintifT under the policies by reason Of
the fire. the plaintiff and the defend
ant and the Industrial Fire Insurance
Co. did enter into. and make and exc
cute the agreement hereto attached.
dated March 1920: the Harvey 3. RIGGS
named in the said agreement having
been selected by the plaintiff and the
Charles A. Cummins named therein hav-
ing been selected by the defendant.
That on March "a. 1920. the said
Riggs and Cummins made the award
hereto attached under the agreement
aforesaid;
That as appears by said policies, each
OF them contained a statement that II
was agreed between the insurer and the
insured that the value of the insured
property was $4,000.
That as appears by the aforesaid
award hereto attached, the sound value
of the insured property at the time of
the fire was found TO be $4,000.
If the court shall be of the opinion
that the eight thousand dollars stated
in the policy to be the agreed value of
the property insured is controlling as 10
the actual value of the property de-
scribed in the policy at the time when
the loss happened, as provided by the
reduced rate contribution clause afore-
said, then judgment shall be entered
for the plaintiff in the sum of 81, 1,22S 25
with interest thereon from April 5,
1890: otherwise judgment shall be
entered for the plaintiff, in the sum of
ss5242, with interest thereon from
April 5. A D., 1920"
The decision in this case depends
upon the construction the court shall
place on our statute, Revised Code
1915. No. 599. because no matter wha;
may be the provisions of the policy the
State law must control. And the sta
tute expressly says that "the contracts
made by such policies and renewals
shall be construed TO be contracts made
under the laws Of this State
The question then is. what does said
section mean when applied to the facts
in the present case?
The section is as follows: "whenevel
any policy of insurance shall be ISSUED
TO insure any real property in thi:
State against loss by fire, tornado OF