Montgomery v. Southern Mutual Insurance

Citations

• 242 Pa. 86
• 88 A. 924
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 842

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Fire insurance — Policy—Construction — Exemption —Fires from locomotive engines — Proximate cause.</p> <p>1. Words of exemption contained in a policy of fire insurance are to be most strongly construed against tbe insurer and in favor of tbe insured, and in so construing them, reasonable effect is to be given to them so as not to defeat — unless there be an imperative necessity to do so — the indemnity which the insured sought and thought he had secured through the policy of insurance.</p> <p>2. In an action of assumpsit upon a policy of fire insurance, it appeared that the policy contained a clause providing, “this policy , . .will not cover loss or damage by fire happening by means of......fire from, or occasioned by locomotive engine or engines.” A portion of plaintiff’s farm had been condemned for the purpose of the construction of a railroad, and a construction company was engaged in work thereon. A tobacco shed which had been left standing, partly on the company’s right of way and partly on the plaintiff’s land, took fire from a spark which was thrown from an engine operated on the work, and this fire in turn was communicated to plaintiff’s buildings covered by the policy of insurance. Held, plaintiff was entitled to recover.</p> <p>3. In such a case, the words of the exempting clause of the policy will be construed to contemplate a fire directly from or directly occasioned or caused by a locomotive engine or engines, and not a fire caused by sparks from another building which had first been set on fire by a spark from an engine.</p>