Case Name: Illinois Surety Company, Appellant, vs. Maguire, Respondent
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Wisconsin
Decision Date: 1912-10-08
Citations: 150 Wis. 544
Docket Number: 
Parties: Illinois Surety Company, Appellant, vs. Maguire, Respondent.
Judges: 
Reporter: Wisconsin Reports
Volume: 150
Pages: 544–545

Head Matter:
Illinois Surety Company, Appellant, vs. Maguire, Respondent.
September 18
October 8, 1912.
Contracts: Construction: Indemnity against liability.
A -written contract to protect and indemnify another against loss, damage, or expense which he may sustain “or become liable for” in consequence of a certain act, is an agreement to protect against liability as well as damage, where the words quoted are not controlled by any other provisions of the contract.
Appeal from a judgment of the circuit court for Wauke-sha county: Mastín L. Lueck, Circuit Judge.
Reversed.
The cause was submitted for'tbe appellant on tbe brief of Holt & Goombs, and for the respondent on that of Merton, Newbury & Jacobson. -- '

Opinion:
Winslow, O. J.
In this case, one question is presented by demurrer to the complaint, and that is the question whether a written agreement to protect and indemnify another against loss, damage, or expense which he may sustain "or become liable for" in consequence of a certain-act, is an agreement to indemnify against actual damage alone, or to indemnify against liability as well. We can entertain no doubt that it must be construed as an agreement-to protest against liability as well as damage. Hoven v. Employers' L. A. Corp. 93 Wis. 201, 67 N. W. 46. To hold otherwise would be to eliminate the words "or become liable for" from the contract. This cannot'be done: the words are apt and unmistakable. They are not controlled by any other provisions of the contract, and must receive their natural meaning. It follows that the judgment appealed from was erroneous.
By the Court. — Judgment reversed, and action remanded with directions to overrule the demurrer, to-the complaint, and for further proceedings according to law.