Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/304/430/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 04:34:02+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 304 › Aetna Ins. Co. v. United Fruit Co.
Aetna Insurance Co. v. United Fruit Co.
1. The purpose of a stipulation fixing the value of the vessel in a marine hull insurance policy undertaking to indemnify insured irrespective of the actual value is to dispense with proof of value in establishing the extent of liability assumed on the policy. P. 304 U. S. 434.
2. Such a valuation clause, beyond its controlling effect in determining the insurance liability, does not operate, either as an estoppel or by agreement, to exclude proof of actual value when relevant. P. 304 U. S. 435.
way of subrogation, the sole object of which is to make indemnity to the insured up to the amount of the policy the measure of the liability of the insurer. P. 304 U. S. 436.
4. There is no analogy between the insurer's right to be subrogated to the fruits of the insured's recovery from a wrongdoer and the insurer's right to a wreck which is his by abandonment. P. 304 U. S. 437.
5. Underwriters insured the hull of a vessel by policies in which the value of the hull was agreed upon at an amount stated, and each of which provided for a stipulated indemnity to the owner irrespective of the actual value of the vessel. The agreed value was less than the actual value of the hull, so that the owner was uninsured for the difference. As protection against the risk, the owner procured from English underwriters additional P.P.I. (policy proof of interest) policies which waived all right of subrogation and were "honor" policies payable only at the option of the insurers, because unenforceable under the applicable Act of Parliament. Upon a total loss of the vessel by collision with a vessel of the United States, all the policies were paid in full. Thereafter, the owner and the underwriters upon the valued policies joined in pressing their claims against the United States, and, in a suit under a special Act of Congress not allowing recovery of interest, there was recovery of the value of the vessel, much exceeding the total insurance. Held that, in the adjustment, the insurers upon the valued policies were entitled by way of subrogation to no more than the amounts they had paid on their policies, without interest, less their respective shares of the expenses attending the recovery. North of England Iron S.S. Ins. Assn. v. Armstrong, (1870) L.R. 5 Q.B. 244, disapproved. P. 304 U. S. 438.
The insurers submitted no interest computations and made no effort to sustain the burden of proving that the owner had received more than indemnity for the delay in payment of so much of the loss as was not covered by insurance.
Certiorari, 303 U.S. 631, to review affirmances, with modifications, of judgments for interest and expenses recovered by three marine insurance companies in actions at law against the owner of a lost vessel. By agreement, the actions were tried together to the court and one juror. The trial court directed verdicts.
In 1918, petitioners, with several other underwriters, insured the hull of respondent's vessel, the Almirante, by policies in which it was agreed that the value of the hull was $632,610, materially less than its true value. The policies provided for a stipulated indemnity to the owner "irrespective of the value of the vessel," and that the owner was free to effect other insurance to any amount and without disclosure of the amounts so insured. As the total of the valued policies was $582,002.25, respondent was co-insurer for about $50,000, and, so far as the valued hull policies were concerned, it was uninsured to the extent of any loss in excess of the stipulated value. As protection against these risks, respondent procured from English underwriters additional P.P.I. (policy proof of interest) insurance, aggregating £65,105, partly upon hull and partly against other losses incidental to total loss of the vessel. The P.P.I. policies waived all rights of subrogation, and were "honor" policies, concededly payable only at the option of the insurers because unenforceable under the Act of Parliament of December 31, 1906, § 4. Edwards & Co. v. Motor Union Insurance Co.,  2 K.B.D. 249.
In 1918, the Almirante became a total loss as the result of a collision with the steamship Hisko, a vessel belonging to the United States Government. The underwriters of both the valued policies and the P.P.I. policies paid them in full. The former joined with respondent in retaining attorneys to press the claims for collision damages against the United States. Suit brought against the United States under a special act of Congress, resulted in a recovery which included $1,750,000 as the value of the vessel, but without interest, since the act did not authorize allowance of interest. Compare Boston Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States, 278 U. S. 41, 278 U. S. 47. Distribution of the proceeds of the suit was made in accordance with a computation by insurance adjusters who apportioned the expenses of the suit among respondent and the underwriters, and allotted to the latter the amounts they had paid on their policies without interest, less their respective shares of the expenses.
interest nor expenses, and modified the judgment accordingly. 92 F.2d 576. We granted certiorari, 303 U.S. 631, because of the admitted conflict of the decision below with that of the Court of Queen's Bench in North of England Iron S.S. Ins. Assn. v. Armstrong (1870) L.R. 5 Q.B. 244. See Queen Insurance Co. v. Globe & Rutgers Fire Ins. Co., 263 U. S. 487, 263 U. S. 493; Gulf Refining Co. v. Atlantic Mutual Ins. Co., 279 U. S. 708, 279 U. S. 715.
Petitioners' argument turns upon their contention that the valuation clause, either by estoppel or by contract, is conclusive between the parties for all purposes, and that, as respondent has recovered from the Government more than the stipulated value of the vessel, petitioners are entitled to the benefit of the recovery, at least to the full extent of the payments on their policies with interest. We think that the valuation clause in its usual form does not operate as an estoppel or by agreement to foreclose proof that actual value exceeds agreed value when the question is of the insurer's right to subrogation. The application of the agreed value to the insurance adjustment does not depend upon estoppel, Gulf Refining Co. v. Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co., supra, 279 U. S. 712; British & Foreign Marine Ins. Co. v. Maldonado & Co., 182 F. 744, and there can be no basis for an estoppel, at least where, as here, the policy provisions undertake to indemnify the insured irrespective of the value of the vessel and contemplate that the insured may effect other insurance. The valuation stipulation fixes in advance of loss the value of the vessel so as to avoid the necessity of proof of value in order to establish the extent of the liability assumed on the policy. The agreed value, honestly arrived at, thus stands in the place of prime value under an open marine policy, Gulf Refining Co. v. Atlantic Mutual Ins. Co., supra, 279 U. S. 711; St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Pure Oil Co., 63 F.2d 771, and resembles, in its practical operation, a stipulation for liquidated damages.
no basis for treating it as excluding the insured as co-insurer when there is a total loss.
These variations in the effect of the valuation clause, in fixing the liability of the insurer, do not alter the character of the valued policy as a contract of indemnity, or afford any basis for alteration of his rights as an indemnitor. Whether, upon a valued or an open policy, he is entitled to share in the insured's recovery of damages only by way of subrogation, whose sole object and justification is to make indemnity to the insured up to the amount of the policy, the measure of the liability of the insurer. Standard Marine Ins. Co. v. Scottish Metropolitan Assurance Co., 283 U. S. 284, 283 U. S. 288; Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Phoenix National Bank & Trust Co., 285 U. S. 209, 285 U. S. 214; Chapman v. Hoage, 296 U. S. 526, 296 U. S. 531. The doctrine now contended for would require a radical departure from the principle on which subrogation is founded. Consistently applied, it would in some cases deprive the insured of indemnity, and indeed might enable the insurer to make a profit by recovering more from the insured than the amounts paid on the policy. We are unable to sanction a doctrine involving such consequences.
costs of the litigation. Petitioners submit no interest computations, and have otherwise made no effort to sustain the burden of proving that respondent has received more than indemnity for the delay in payment of as much of the loss as was not covered by insurance.
and the insurer's right to a wreck which is his by abandonment. The Potomac, 105 U. S. 630, 105 U. S. 634; The St. Johns, 101 F. 469, 472; Arnould on Marine Insurance, 11th Edition, §§ 1228-1230.
North of England Iron S.S. Ins. Assn. v. Armstrong, supra, was cited in The Potomac, supra, 105 U. S. 635, and in Mobile & Montgomery Ry. Co. v. Jurey, 111 U. S. 584, 111 U. S. 594-595, neither of which involved the question now presented. It was followed in The St. Johns, but not to the extent of allowing a profit to the insurer. In The Livingstone, 130 F. 746, the claim of a valued hull insurer to the whole collision recovery, which exceeded the agreed value, was denied upon reasoning which rejected that of North of England Iron S.S. Ins. Assn. v. Armstrong, supra, and The St. Johns, supra, and calls for affirmance of the judgment here. Interest was allowed to the insurer, apparently because interest on the full value of the vessel had been recovered in the damage suit. Without discussing the point, the court, by its mandate, directed payment to the underwriters of the full amount of their policies, without deduction for expenses. But, as it considered that the insurer's right of recovery rested upon subrogation unaffected by the valuation clause, we cannot regard the case as an intentional departure from the rule that the insurer is entitled to subrogation only after the insured is appropriately indemnified, or as establishing any rule that the valuation clause forecloses proof of actual value as a step in measuring the insurer's recovery by way of subrogation.
an English appellate court. It was doubted by eminent judges in Burnand v. Rodocanachi  L.R. 7 App.Cas. 333, 342, and in Thames & Mersey Marine Ins. Co. v. British & Chilean S.S. Co.,  L.R. 2 K.B. 214, 221. Its reasoning, conflicting as it does with established principles of maritime insurance law and found to be incapable of consistent application both in The St. Johns, supra, 474-475, and in The Livingstone, supra, 750, should be rejected here.
* Together with No. 774, Union Marine & General Ins. Co. v. United Fruit Co., and No. 775, Boston Insurance Co. v. Same, also on writs of certiorari to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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