Court Opinion

ID: 9667571
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:49:46.035603+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:39.011809
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing
MATTHES, Judge.
Plaintiff, respondent, has filed a motion for rehearing in which he takes issue with our holding that he accepted the act of defendant in procuring the limited interest insurance policy as full and complete performance of the contract.
Plaintiff strenuously insists that when defendant purchased the single interest policy, “the original contract was then and there breached”, and that the rights of plaintiff and liability of defendant became' fixed at that time. It is stated that the subsequent conduct of plaintiff could not and did not alter or affect his right to maintain this action. The sustention of this theory would produce an anomalous situation. For it is an admitted fact that three or four days following delivery of the automobile, plaintiff received the daily report with all endorsements attached thereto. Thereby he was afforded the opportunity to determine the precise type of insurance which had been procured by defendant, and the exact cost thereof, which was $1.60 less than the premium for 'Class I collision insurance. At that time plaintiff had the right to institute an action to recover damages for breach of the contract, it being a firmly established principle that a cause of action arising out of contractual relations between the parties accrues as soon as the contract is breached. 1 C.J.S., Actions, § 124(b), p. 1387; 1 C.J., Actions, § 385, p. 1146; 13 C.J., Contracts, § 801, p. 699, 17 C.J.S., Contracts, § 531; Beard v. Citizens’ Bank of Memphis, Mo.App., 37 S.W.2d 678, 679. Not only did plaintiff choose to retain the insurance which had been purchased, without objection, protest, or action of any kind, but he accepted and cashed the check sent to him by the defendant, which covered the difference in the cost of the insurance. Thus it must be held that the defendant’s performance of the contractual obligation was accepted by plaintiff.
*516There is no merit in the contention made in the motion that the defense relied upon by defendant was not affirmatively pleaded. The fact is that the issue was hotly contested — it was the chief issue that was tried and submitted. By our code of civil procedure when issues not embraced in or raised by pleadings are tried by express or implied consent of the parties, they shall be treated as if they had been properly raised by the pWdings. Section S09.500, RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S.; Payne v. White, Mo.App., 288 S.W.2d 6, 10; Duffy v. Barnhart Store Co., Mo.App., 202 S.W.2d 520, 526.
Plaintiff’s motion for rehearing, or in the alternative to transfer to the Supreme 'Court of Missouri, is overruled.
ANDERSON, P. J., and ELMO B. HUNTER, Special Judge, concur.