Germania Fire Insurance v. Hick

Citations

• 125 Ill. 361
• 17 N.E. 792

Syllabus

<p>1. Insurance—estoppel—as to condition relating to matters known to exist—knowledge of the agent as knowledge of the principal. An insurance company that takes a premium for a policy under conditions in respect to matters known to exist, that would render the policy invalid, will not be permitted to say that it is not a binding contract for that reason; and the company will be held as having the same knowledge of the condition and situation of the property as that possessed by the agent transacting the business for it.</p> <p>2. A policy of insurance contained a condition that the contract should be void if the property insured was on leased ground, unless that was specially agreed to in writing in or upon the policy. The agent of the company, when he filled up the application for insurance, knew that the property was so situated, and answered the questions from his own knowledge, and a policy was issued containing no mention of the property being on leased ground: Held, in an action on the policy for a loss, that the company was estopped from setting up the omission to state the condition of the premises in that regard, as a defense.</p> <p>3. Practice—refusing unnecessary propositions of law. Where the Court, on the trial of a case without a jury, is asked to hold certain propositions of law to be correct, it will not be bound to hold every proposition asked. It will be sufficient if those which are held to be correct, state every principle of law necessary to be considered in the decision of the case.</p>