Knouse v. Mutual Fire Insurance

Citations

• 78 Pa. Super. 542
• 1922 Pa. Super. LEXIS 158

Syllabus

<p>Fire insurance — Mutual companies — Assessments—Future losses and expenses — Failure to pay.</p> <p>The rights and remedies of the members of mutual fire insurance companies are to be determined by their contract. One who, by his contract, has made himself “subject to assessment at such times as the board of directors may, by the act of incorporation, require” and “liable for all losses and expenses,” during membership to the amount of the premium paid, cannot avoid payment of an assessment, otherwise proper, because it made provision for future losses and expenses. If a member withdraw, or if his membership expire, at a time when, pursuant to an assessment, he has contributed more than sufficient to pay his share of losses and expenses then sustained, he is entitled to a return of the unearned part of the assessment.</p> <p>A member who withholds payment of such an assessment from February until April cannot recover against the company for a loss incurred while the assessment remained unpaid, where his policy expressly provided that it should be null and void if any assessment was not paid within thirty days.</p> <p>Rosenberger, Light & Co. v. Washington Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 87 Pa. 207, distinguished.</p>