Court Opinion

ID: 9642651
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 18:05:22.296564+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:50.368217
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON PETITION FOR REHEARING

The Plaintiffs have filed a Petition for Rehearing. They contend that we committed error in finding that the Defendant was not notified that the brothers Gredig had swapped houses. They contend we could not or should not have made this finding because the trial court made no such finding. They contend that instead of dismissing the Plaintiffs’ Complaint, as we did, we should have remanded “for a factual and legal determination as to the question of the Defendant’s notice and as to the question of the waiver or estoppel of Defendant thereby.”
The pleadings in this case put at issue the questions of notice, waiver, and estoppel. The parties presented proof on these issues, including a premium notice addressed to Robert Gredig at the address of the house owned by his brother, Donald Gre-dig. We found, based on the evidence in the record, that Robert Gredig, the policyholder, had not sought the Defendant’s permission for his brother and the latter’s wife to occupy the insured house. The fact that Robert Gredig told the mortgagee about the house swap and the fact that the premium notice was addressed to Robert Gredig at a place other than the covered residence do not, individually or cumulatively, prove that the Defendant knew that the brothers had swapped houses. Notice to the mortgagee is not notice to the Defendant, and the fact that the premium notice was sent to another address only proves that the Defendant was advised to send the premium notice to another address. This latter fact does not prove that Robert Gredig was not living in the covered house and certainly does not prove that he had swapped houses with his brother. In fact, Robert Gredig testified that he had not advised the Defendant of the swap. No one testified that they had advised the Defendant of the exchange of residences.
The parties had an opportunity to litigate the issues of notice, waiver and estoppel. They litigated these issues. There is no reason to remand this case for a hearing on issues which have already been litigated.
We found that the policy in question was not ambiguous and further found, based on the evidence before us, that it was void because there was no proof that the Defendant’s permission had been sought with respect to Donald Gredig living in the covered house. By doing so, we addressed the very issues for which the Petition seeks a remand. It is true that the trial court did not reach these issues; but this is immaterial. We did reach these issues. We believe the relief granted by us in this case was appropriate because our findings dispose of all issues raised by the parties and litigated at trial. See Tenn.R.App.P. 13(c) and 36.
It is accordingly ORDERED that the Petition for Rehearing is hereby denied.