Earley v. Mutual Fire Insurance

Citations

• 178 Pa. 631
• 36 A. 195
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 989

Syllabus

<p>Insu/rance — Fire insurance — Waiver.</p> <p>Every consideration of public policy demands that insurance companies should be required to deal with their customers with entire frankness and fairness. They may refuse to pay without specifying any ground, and insist upon any available ground, but when they plant themselves upon a specific defense, and so notify the assured, they should not be permitted to retract after the latter has acted upon their position as announced, and incurred expense in consequence of it: McCormick v. Ins. Co., 163 Pa. 184.</p> <p>Where an insurance company after a fire, with full knowledge that the conditions of the policy had been violated by the insured, offers to pay the amount of the loss as fixed by a committee of its board of managers, appointed by the company to appraise the loss, and, upon the refusal of the insured to accept the offer, appoints an arbitrator, and conducts negotiations for several months without raising any question as to its liability to pay the loss, it cannot, in a suit brought upon the policy, be heard to allege that the policy was forfeited because the assured violated its conditions.</p>