Porter v. Insurance Co. of North America

Citations

• 29 Pa. Super. 75
• 1905 Pa. Super. LEXIS 268

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Fire insurance — Renewal of policy — Nonoccupancy—Agent— Sole ownership.</p> <p>Where an insured under a fire insurance policy requests the agent of the insurance company to issue a new policy on the ground of a change of ownership, and the agent instead of issuing a new policy, indorses a new contract of insurance on the old policy, naming the new beneficiary individually, and not as trustee, as he had been informed and notified by the parties, the company cannot in an action upon the policy defend, either because of a nonoccupaney of the insured premises which had occurred prior to the new contract, or because the new beneficiary was not the sole owner but merely a trustee.</p> <p>When, at the time of issuing an insurance policy, the company knows that one of the conditions is inconsistent with the facts, and the insured had been guilty of no fraud, the company is estopped from setting up the breach of said condition. The same rule prevails when the insurance company ought to have known the facts constituting the alleged breach.</p> <p>Where the insured acts in good faith and fully and fairly discloses all information desired by the company, the contract shall be liberally construed in aid of the indemnity which was in contemplation of the parties who made it.</p>