Court Opinion

ID: 6953931
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-24 01:35:33.199042+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:08:11.136572
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Lawrence delivered the opinion of the Court: The appellee, Fix, being indebted to Mayer, for whose use this suit is brought, executed to him his notes, secured by mortgage on a brewery, and at the same time assigned to him a policy of insurance, issued by the appellants, upon the building and fixtures. This assignment was made with the consent of the company endorsed upon the policy. The present suit was brought in the name of Fix for the use of Mayer, and resulted in a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff, from which the company appealed. On the trial, the company offered to prove that the building was set on fire by the plaintiff, Fix. The evidence was objected to by plaintiff’s counsel, and the objection was sustained. This ruling presents the main question in the case, to wit, whether, where a policy of insurance has been assigned by the assured to one holding a mortgage on the premises, with the consent of the company endorsed upon the policy, its validity can be destroyed by acts done by the assignor in violation of its conditions. This question has received much discussion in the courts of Hew Vork, and the decisions first made have been deliberately overruled. It was first held, in the Trader’s Ins. Co. v. Robert, 9 Wend. 404, that no act of the assured, after the assignment of the policy with the consent of the company, can impair the rights of his assignee. This case was approved and followed in Tillon v. The Kingston Mutual Ins. Co. 1 Seld. 406, the court holding that the assignment of a policy, with the assent of the insurer, creates new and mutual relations and rights between the assignee and the insurer, which can not be impaired by a third person, over whom the assignee has no control. The question again came up in Grosvenor v. The Atlantic Fire Ins. Co. 17 N. Y. 392, and in the Buffalo Steam Engine Works v. The Sun Mutual Ins. Co. ib. 401. In the first case, the policy was not assigned by the mortgagor to the mortgagee, but, by its original terms, the loss, in case of fire, was made payable to the mortgagee.. The majority of the court held the case was not distinguishable from an assignment of the policy, and overruling the cases already cited, held the policy was avoided by certain acts done by the mortgagor in violation of its terms. One of the eight judges composing the court, dissented altogether, and two others concurred only on the ground that the case was not like one in which the policy had been assigned. In the other case, decided at the same term, and which was one of assignment, the majority of the court held the policy avoided by the acts of the assignor, the three judges dissenting. In these two cases, the question involved received a much fuller discussion than was given to it when the former decisions were rendered. In reply to the argument of the court in 9 Wend, that the assignor could not be permitted to execute a release to the insurance company which would impair the rights of the assignee, and that he should not be permitted to do indirectly what he could not do directly, the court very justly say, this argument fails to distinguish between acts done for the purpose of discharging a liability, and acts which, by the terms of the contract, were necessary to be done or omitted, in order to continue the liability in force. The' principle, however, laid down in the case in 4 Selden, that the assignment- of a policy, with the assent of the company, creates new relations and rights between the assignee and the company, is not wholly repudiated as never applicable, for it is admitted that, in cases where there has been an absolute sale of the insured property, the assured retaining no interest in it, and there has been an assignment of the policy to the purchaser, with the consent of the company, such purchaser may be considered as becoming a party to the contract, taking upon himself the performance of its conditions, while the assignor, ceasing to be a substantial party, and having no interest in the subject matter, could do no act affecting the rights of the assignee. The court insist, however, that this principle can not be applied to an assignment to a mortgagee, because, in such cases, the mortgagor retains his interest in the property and in the policy, and whenever the mortgage debt is paid, the benefit of the policy reverts to him, or in case the policy exceeds the amount of the mortgage, the .surplus, in the event of a loss, would be payable to the mortgagor. The court further say, that the rule of the former cases would make insurance companies liable for risks which they never assumed, and against which their policies are intended to guard them, for, under this rule, a mortgagor, remaining in possession, might convert a building, insured as a dwelling house, to a use vastly more hazardous, as by making it a place for manufacturing fire works, and still the company be required to pay, although one of the material terms of its contract was that its liability should cease in the event of such a change in the uses of the property. The supreme court of Pennsylvania, in State Mutual Ins. Co. v. Roberts, 31 Penn. 438, adopts the rule of these cases, in a well considered opinion. The supreme court of the United States in Carpenter v. Providence Washington Ins. Co. 16 Peters, 495, lays down a similar principle. This rule is also followed in People v. Resolute Ins. Co. 17 Wis. 378. On the other hand, the earlier blew York cases were followed in Pollard v. Somerset Mutual Fire Insurance Co. 42 Maine, 226. In this State the question is an open one. Counsel for appellee cite the N. E. Fire and Marine Ins. Co. v. Wetmore, 32 Ill. 242, and City Fire Ins. Co. v. Marks, 45 Ill. 482, as adopting the rule of the earlier blew York cases. But in the first of these cases, the policy was issued directly to the mortgagees, and assigned by them with the note and mortgage, and the question, in regard to which the case in 1 Selden was cited, was as to the right of the assignee to. bring suit in the name of the assignors. In the case in 45 Ill. the assured had sold the stock of goods insured, and the policy had been assigned to the purchaser with the consent of the company. The court, in its opinion, cites the earlier Hew York cases only, hut even under the rule laid down in the last case, in 17 N. Y., the assignee was entitled to recover, the transaction being a sale and not a mortgage. This court has shown, in various cases, a disposition to hold insurance companies to a full measure of responsibility, but we are of opinion that the cases in 17 N. Y. stand upon the better reason. The consent of insurance companies to an assignment of the policy by a mortgagor to a mortgagee, should not be construed as imposing upon them, as a consequence of such mere naked assent, a liability which they never would intentionally assume, and against which they take all possible pains to guard themselves, and must guard themselves in order to preserve their solvency. The principle contended for by counsel for appellee, and laid down in the earlier Hew York cases is, that no act of the assignor, done without the consent of the assignee, can invalidate the policy, so far as relates to the assignee. If this be true without limitation, then, as said by the Hew York court of appeals, a risk taken by a company at the lowest rates, because in the least hazardous class, might be changed, by the mortgagor remaining in possession, and without the concurrence of the mortgagee, to the class of extra-hazardous, and the liability of the company would remain the same. A detached dwelling house might be converted into a powder magazine, or to some other use which would prevent any sound insurance company from taking the risk on any terms, and still, under the rule claimed by appellee, the company would remain responsible. The mortgagor might go further, and not only convert his building to extra hazardous uses, but absolutely set it on fire, with a view of defrauding the company, as the appellants, offered to prove was done in the present case. We can not adopt a rule which would lead to such results. In analogy to the case of absolute sales by the assured, we should be much inclined to hold to the rule announced in 1 Selden, if it were possible to separate the interest of the mortgagor and mortgagee. But it is not, for the mortgagor is not only interested in the payment of the mortgage, but, where he pays the premium, the fruits of the policy absolutely belong to him, subject to the lien of the mortgagee. Where there is an absolute sale, there is no difficulty in determining the measure of the assignee’s rights and the company’s liabilities, for he stands in the position of receiving a new policy as owner, and becomes responsible for any extra-hazardous uses to which the building may be applied, a responsibility he can not evade on the ground that the building is not under his control. But where there is no sale, but the policy is merely assigned as security, we are obliged to hold, either that the company is bound absolutely to the assignee, no matter how far the conditions of its contract may have been violated, which would be a very unreasonable ruling, or that there is such identity of interest in regard to both the property and the policy, that there can be no recovery, even for the use of the assignee, if the assignor fails to comply with the conditions. The utmost that can be claimed for an assignee in such cases is, that he should stand in the same position as if he had taken out a new and independent policy to protect his own interest as mortgagee. But admitting such claim, we have no rule to guide us. It is impossible for us to say what conditions the company would deem it necessary to insert in such a policy for its own protection. It is very certain it would stipulate that the hazard to the building should not be increased, and thus would compel the mortgagee to take upon himself the responsibility of the mortgagor’s acts, from which he could not escape by saying that his rights should not be prejudiced by the acts of a third person. It would necessarily result, from the nature of the interest insured, that its owner might be damnified by the acts of the mortgagor in possession, although beyond his control. Whether a company would also stipulate, in such a policy, that neither the mortgagor nor the mortgagee should obtain further insurance, without its consent, we do not know, though it is evident such a stipulation would be a wise precaution. The history of the Robert case in 9 Wend, singularly illustrates the injustice of attempting to base a judgment against an insurance company, in favor of the mortgagor, upon the equities of his assignee. In that case, the judgment was rendered in favor of Robert, the mortgagor, for the use of Bolton, his assignee, on the ground that, though Robert had violated the policy, this could not prejudice Bolton. After the rendition of the judgment, and before its payment, Robert paid off the mortgage, and threatened the insurance company with an execution. ' The company moved the court for a perpetual stay, which was granted, the court holding, consistently with its former ruling, that Robert had no equitable rights under the policy. 9 Wend. 404 and 474. From this order an. appeal was taken to the court for the correction of errors, and that court held, as the original judgment was unreversed, it was conclusive upon the rights of the parties, and as the mortgage had been paid, the benefit of the judgment reverted to Robert, the mortgagor. He thus received the full benefit of the policy, although he had forfeited all rights under it, and a judgment had been rendered in his favor only in consequence of the equities of his assignee. 17 Wend. 631. It is, in our opinion, very clear, if we attempt to dispose of cases of this character oh the theory that the assignment is to be treated as a new policy, issued directly to the mortgagee, for his exclusive benefit, and to adjust the rights of these parties in accordance with what we may suppose such a policy would contain, we shall be wandering in a labyrinth where there would be but one thing certain, and that is, that great injustice would be done these companies. We should practically be enforcing liabilities against them which they never intended to incur, and giving to the mortgagor the benefit of a policy in which he has forfeited all his rights. We deem it safer and more just to say, that where a policy is assigned as collateral to a mortgage, though with the consent of the company, the assignee takes'it subject to the conditions expressed upon its face, or necessarily inhering in it, and that no recovery can be had merely in consequence of the equities of the assignee, if the assignor has lost the right to recover by violating the terms of the contract. The evidence, offered to show that the plaintiff set the building on fire, should have been admitted, and the instruction asked for defendants, in regard to the effect of a second insurance, should have been given. Judgment reversed.