Arthurholt v. Susquehanna Mut. Fire Ins.

Citations

• 159 Pa. 1
• 28 A. 197
• 1893 Pa. LEXIS 1469

Syllabus

<p>Insurance policy — Payment of premium — Agent—Waiver.</p> <p>A provision in a policy of insurance providing that the policy shall be void unless payment of the premium shall be made to the secretary or an agent duly appointed as such in writing; is not intended to make the insured answerable for the default of the company’s own agent; and where the company itself, either expressly or by acts which warrant the implication, has in fact appointed an agent to deliver a policy and collect the premiums, the receipt of the money by such agent is the receipt by the company, and operates as a waiver of the condition.</p> <p>A policy of fire insurance provided that if the premium should not be paid to the secretary “ or an agent of the company duly appointed as such in writing, within fifteen days from the date of its issue,” the policy should be void. Before the policy was issued the assured applied to a local insurance agent, who could not place the risk in any of the companies he was agent for. He therefore applied to an insurance broker in Philadelphia. The broker applied to defendant, an insurance company. Defendant issued a policy, sent it by mail to the broker of Philadelphia, who immediately sent it by mail to the local insurance agent, who by mail delivered it to plaintiff. On the day after the receipt of the policy plaintiff sent a check for the premium to the local insurance agent, who duly received it, and drew the money from the bank, but did not pay it over either to the broker in Philadelphia, or to defendant company. About seven weeks after the policy was issued the property of the insured was destroyed by fire. In an action on the policy it appeared that the broker was in the habit of placing insurance for defendant, and was allowed a commission of twenty per cent of the premium. It also appeared that the local insurance agent was the mer’e representative of the broker for the transmission of the policy and the reception and remittance of the premium. Held