New Holl. Turnp. Co. v. Farmers' Ins.

Citations

• 144 Pa. 541
• 22 A. 923
• 1891 Pa. LEXIS 638

Syllabus

<p>(a) In 1871, a turnpike company took out a policy of insurance upon a bridge, paying premiums regularly until 1882, when the bridge was burned. In an action to recover upon the policy, it was judicially determined in 1888, that the turnpike company had no insurable interest in the bridge, and its action failed:</p> <p>1. A suit brought by the turnpike company against the insurance company in 1890, to recover back the premiums paid, was barred by the statute of limitations, whether the cause of action arose at the date of the payment of the premiums, of the fire, or of the refusal to pay the insurance or to repay the premiums.</p> <p>2. Ignorance of one’s rights will not stay the operation of the statute. The law imposed upon the plaintiff the duty to know its rights, and it will be conclusively presumed that it did know them, especially as the want of an insurable interest was persistently asserted in the former action from the start.</p>