Philad. Tool Co. v. British Am. Assurance Co.

Citations

• 132 Pa. 236
• 19 A. 77
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 803

Syllabus

<p>(a) A company issued a policy of insurance against loss by fire on brick and frame buildings and the machinery and tools therein, occupied and used by the plaintiff, a manufacturing company, having no title, legal or equitable, to the real estate, and no interest in it except as lessee for a term of years.</p> <p>(b) The policy contained a provision that it should be void, if the assured was not the sole and unconditional owner of the property, or if the buildings stood on ground not owned in fee-simple by the assured, or the interest of the assured was not truly stated, unless consent in writing was indorsed on the policy by the company:</p> <p>1. No representation of any kind upon the subject of the title of the assured to the real estate having been made, the policy, written upon the knowledge of the company’s agent, was to be interpreted as made in view of the facts of the case, and as intended to cover such interest as the assured had therein.</p> <p>2. That interest was a leasehold only, but an insurable interest; and presumably it was the interest which an application, if one had been made, would have shown; wherefore, the policy was not void for the alleged reason that an entire premium was paid, and the assured had no title to the buildings, a portion of the property covered by the insurance.</p>