Levinton v. Ohio Farmers Insurance

Citations

• 267 Pa. 448
• 110 A. 295
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 887

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Fire insurance — Description of property — Construction of contract — Doubt—Statement of subagent’s employee — Waiver — Endorsement or policy — Estoppel—Custom—Evidence.</p> <p>Eire insurance policies described the property insured as being “merchandise, stock, materials and supplies, chiefly broom corn, their own or held in. trust or on consignment or sold but not removed, contained in a frame warehouse building detached about 100 feet from factory.” On account of its defective condition the warehouse was tom down and two smaller buildings erected, No. 1 on the site of the old building, .and No. 2 some 100 feet from No. 1, and about the same distance from the factory. During the construction,- the broom corn was removed to near-by bams, and, upon the completion of the buildings, it was removed to the new warehouse, No. 1 receiving the broom corn for immediate use, and No. 2 that for storage. During the construction period the change on the policies was provided for by a “binder,” and when the new warehouses were completed the binders were removed and specific insurance was taken out on No. 1 and No. 2; and the old policies were put in force “to cover as originally written.” Later the contents of No. 2 were destroyed by fire, and it was claimed that the loss was covered by the original policies, or that the company was estopped from asserting the contrary, because a counterman, an employee of the insurance company’s subagent, said, when the binders were cancelled and the new arrangement was made, that “the form was broad enough to cover any warehouse around there, that is a frame warehouse.” The policy provided that the company should not be bound by any waiver of any condition of the policy by an agent or other representative unless the same were endorsed thereon or added thereto. There was no evidence that the counterman was authorized to make the statement which he did. Reid:</p> <p>(a) That the original policies did not cover the broom corn contai