Hillman Transportation Co. v. Home Insurance

Citations

• 268 Pa. 547
• 112 A. 108
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 734

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Marine insurance — “Unavoidable dangers of rivers” —Excepted causes — Act of God — Vis inertia — Burden of proof— Evidence — Case for jury — Words and phrases.</p> <p>1. A marine insurance policy will be given a liberal construction in favor of the insured.</p> <p>2. In an action on a policy of marine insurance for loss of a river steamer, where the policy covers “unavoidable dangers of the rivers,” and enumerates a number of excepted causes, such as undue loading, and provides that the “vessel- shall be run and navigated with ordinary care and skill,” and the defense is that the vessel was unduly loaded with coal, causing it to be top-heavy, and that the crew was intoxicated when the boat capsized, and the evidence on these matters is conflicting, the case is for the jury.</p> <p>3. In such ease, plaintiff, after proving the boat was not unduly loaded, that it was properly navigated, and that the accident did not occur from any excepted cause, is not obliged to go further, and prove the actual cause of the accident.</p> <p>4. The word “unavoidable” means unpreventable by the persons operating the boat with due care and skill. It is not limited to such causes as are known as an act of God.</p> <p>6. Where a boat with a shallow draught and a high pilot house, has a tendency, like other boats of its class, to capsize, and such tendency is not within the exceptions of the policy, it is one of the “unavoidable dangers of the rivers” within the meaning of the policy.</p>