Giordano v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance

Citations

• 63 Pa. Super. 233
• 1916 Pa. Super. LEXIS 143

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Fire insurance — Pleadings — Affidavit of defense — Affidavit by agent.</p> <p>In an action on a policy of fire insurance, an affidavit of defense is sufficient which avers that the plaintiff’s loss instead of $1,300 as claimed, was only $301.84, that plaintiffs fraudulently misstated their losé, and that the proofs were not furnished within sixty days after the fire,' as provided by the policy: Penn Plate Glass Co. v. Spring Garden Ins. Co., 189 Pa. 255, followed.</p> <p>In an action upon a policy of fire insurance an affidavit of defense sufficiently establishes the right of the deponent to make the affidavit, where the defendant avers that he is the district agent of the company, a corporation of another staté; that the executive officers do not reside in Pennsylvania; that he has full authority to make the affidavit; that there is not sufficient time to draw the affidavit for an officer of the company at the home office to execute it and return it in time; that deponent is thoroughly acquainted with the facts; that he has carefully investigated the case through competent persons and expert builders; that the results of the investigation have been carefully gone over by him, and that being informed and believing the facts, he expects to be able to prove them at the trial.</p> <p>Where a statement of claim in an action on a fire insurance policy avers that the plaintiff delivered to defendant proofs of loss on December 21st, and the defendant declares in its affidavit of defense that the proofs of loss were not received until December 23d, the latter date being too late under the conditions of the policy, the lower court cannot as a matter of law decide that the plaintiffs having mailed their proofs within sixty days had complied with the policy. Nothing having been said as to mailing the proofs, this fact cannot form the basis of the court’s decision.</p>