Opinion ID: 1123810
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the findings of the trial judge

Text: At the time of the damage, appellant's merchandise was covered by policies from four insurance companies. Seventy-five percent of the coverage was with Birmingham Fire Insurance Company and National Surety Corporation, and was handled through the J.C. Morris Agency, at Fairbanks. The remaining 25 percent of the coverage was with American Manufacturer's Mutual and United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, and was handled by the Fairbanks Insurance Company, also at Fairbanks. The insurance policies were of the provisional or monthly reporting type. Under this type of policy an annual premium is paid. The amount of the premium is flexible, depending on the value of the inventory reported each month by the insured as being on hand at the insured location. The mechanics of the arrangement are that initially 75 percent of the premium is paid based on the full value of the policy. This payment is subject to increase or reduction at the end of each year based on the monthly reports of the value of merchandise located at the insured location. In the event of fire damage, the amount that the insurers agree to pay is based on the value of merchandise stated on the last monthly value report submitted by the insured prior to the loss. The main area of dispute between the parties is over what monthly value report was the last submitted by appellant prior to the loss of February 23, 1963. A report for September and October 1962, stating the value of merchandise to be $2,500, was received by each of the insurance companies involved well in advance of the loss. Another report for November and December 1962, stating the value of merchandise at the insured location to be $25,000, was also submitted by appellant. But this report was not received by the insurance companies until after the loss. The superior court found that the November and December 1962 report was not effectively submitted by appellant until after the loss, and therefore that the coverage at the insured location at the time of the loss was controlled by the $2,500 report of September and October 1962. Appellant asks us to set aside this finding. The pertinent evidence relating to this finding was as follows: (1) Alaska Foods kept no records of monthly reports of value. (2) Bonnie Goes was hired as office manager of appellant on January 14, 1963. She testified that she prepared the $25,000 November and December 1962 value report under the supervision of appellant's accountant, Mr. Doremus. She said that in preparing this report she used value figures supplied by Mr. Carr, owner of Alaska Foods. Bonnie Goes also testified that she assumed she had mailed the November and December 1962 report to the J.C. Morris Agency in January 1963, because she had no reason to hold it. (3) Mr. Carr's testimony indicated that he would not have had detailed knowledge of the contents of the records since he had had them prepared by office personnel. (4) Appellant's accountant, Mr. Doremus, testified that Bonnie Goes had been instructed generally to make out insurance reports, and that he had assumed that monthly reporting was continuing. He testified that appellant's records were in such poor condition that reports to management, including information relating to inventory, could not be prepared. According to Mr. Doremus, this situation had not been remedied at the time Bonnie Goes was employed on January 14, 1963. (5) Mr. Baxter, manager of the J.C. Morris Agency, and Mrs. Morris of that agency, testified concerning the practice of the agency with respect to forwarding the value reports to the insurance companies after the agency had received them. According to their testimony, all of the monthly value reports were handled the same way. The agency would mail the report to the insurance company on the same day it was received from the insured. Usually the report would be taken from the insurance envelope and immediately placed in a preaddressed envelope which had been provided by the insurance company involved. From these basic facts the judge drew the following inferences: (1) It was doubtful that Bonnie Goes actually obtained direct supervision from Carr and Doremus in making the November and December 1962 value report. (2) It was doubtful that Bonnie Goes would have been able herself to prepare the necessary report. (3) The November and December 1962 report was not mailed by appellant until after the loss for the following reasons: (a) Bonnie Goes' testimony that she prepared and submitted the report to the J.C. Morris Agency in January 1963 was probably incorrect. (b) The insurance companies did not receive the November and December 1962 report until at least about two weeks after the loss. (c) It was established that the J.C. Morris Agency's business practice was to forward to the appropriate insurance companies value reports received from an insured immediately after receipt. Appellant contends that the inferences and findings of the trial judge are erroneous because the business practice of the J.C. Morris Agency was not adequately shown by the evidence, and that even if it was, the practice followed in this case did not correspond to that business practice. The authorities cited by appellant, such as Lieb v. Webster, 30 Wash.2d 43, 190 P.2d 701 (1948), concerning what must be shown by way of business custom and compliance therewith to establish mailing are not pertinent here. The superior court did not rely on the J.C. Morris Agency's business practice to establish the fact of mailing. This was sufficiently established by the insurance company's receipt by mail of the value reports. The business practice was relied upon to show that the J.C. Morris Agency promptly forwarded the value reports to the insurance companies, and that the Agency did not let the November and December 1962 reports lie around its office for several weeks which might have accounted for the late receipt of the reports by the insurance companies. Appellant argues that because certain typing appeared on the November and December 1962 report between the time it left the insured's hands and the time it arrived at the insurance companies, someone at the J.C. Morris Agency must have placed the typing on the report. Although this may indicate a slight deviation from J.C. Morris' usual practice of transferring the value report immediately from the insured's envelope into the insurance company's envelope, this does not necessarily indicate any departure from the business custom of mailing the report to the insurance company on the same day it was received from the insured. The testimony of Baxter and Mrs. Morris established a sufficiently regular and uniform business custom. The circumstances appearing in the present case are sufficiently similar to that custom to make the business practice relevant evidence. [41] The trial judge could properly have considered this evidence in making his findings. Appellant also argues that the trial judge erred in finding that the $25,000 November and December 1962 report was not filed prior to the loss, because there was evidence other than that relied upon by the judge which points to the conclusion that this value report was filed before the loss. We have examined appellant's contention, but we need not go into a detailed discussion here of the evidence relied upon by appellant. The inferences which appellant wishes us to draw from this evidence may be legitimate and not unreasonable. But at the same time, the trial judge's inferences which he drew from the evidence in this case, and which led to his ultimate finding, are also legitimate and not unreasonable. In viewing the entire record, there may be some evidence to support appellant's point of view. But that is not enough to persuade us to upset the finding of the trial judge. The inferences he drew from the evidence are legitimate and his ultimate finding is supported by such inferences. Even though the inferences and finding of the judge are based on nondemeanor evidence, and even though there is some evidence to support appellant's contentions, we are not left with the definite and firm conviction on the entire record that the trial judge made a mistake in finding that the November and December 1962 value report in the amount of $25,000 was not filed prior to the loss. Therefore, we cannot hold that finding to be clearly erroneous.