Hammond v. Niagara Fire Insurance

Citations

• 92 Kan. 851
• 142 P. 936
• 1914 Kan. LEXIS 332

Syllabus

<p>syllabus by the court.</p> <p>1. Insurance — Provisions of Policy that Books and Records Are to Be Kept in Fireproof Safe, or Out of Danger from. Fire, Are Valid. In a contract insuring a stock of merchandise it was provided that the insured should take inventories of his stock at certain times and keep a set of books showing a record of the business transacted by him, and, further, that he should keep such books and the last inventory taken securely locked in a fireproof safe at night or, failing in this, keep them in a place not exposed to a fire which would .ignite or destroy the store building, and in case of loss he would produce such books and inventory for the inspection of the insurer, with the further condition that the failure to keep and produce them would avoid the policy. Held, that the word “keep” as used in the policy has two meanings: in the first provision it means to make entries in books of the business transacted; and in the second, where it provides that the insured shall keep the books and inventory in a fireproof safe or in some place not exposed to fire, it means that he shall care for and preserve them; and the failure of the insured to both preserve and produce them in compliance with this provision operates to defeat a recovery of the insurance under the policy.</p> <p>2. Same — Knowledge of Agent — No Waiver of Provision in Policy. The fact that the agent of the insurer examined the stock when the policy was written and might have discovered that the insured did not keep a fireproof safe, or even his knowledge that the insured 'had no safe at that time, can not be construed into a waiver of the obligation of the insured to keep the books and inventory in the manner and place provided for in the contract of insurance.</p>