Queen Insurance v. Jefferson Ice Co.

Citations

• 64 Tex. 578

Syllabus

<p>1, Insurance — R. S., 2971 — Stipulations — Foreign companies.— An insurance policy provided that in the event of loss the insured party should bear one-fourth of the loss, and that in the event of other insurance, which could be made only with the consent of the insurer, the company should only be liable for its proportion of three-fourths of the cash market value at the time of the fire.* Held:</p> <p>(1) That in case of a total loss by fire of the insured property, provided it be not personal property, the policy must be considered a liquidated demand against the company for the full amount expressed on its face. R. S., 2971.</p> <p>(2) That foreign insurance companies, electing to do business in this state under the terms of the statute, must, be held to have assented to be governed by our laws, and to have their contracts made and to be enforced in this state, construed as would be like contracts made by a home company. Following Thwing v. Ins. Co., 111 Mass., 93; Cox v. United States, 6 Pet., 172.</p> <p>(3) The evident intent of the statute was to make all policies on real property, in cases of total loss, valued policies, without regard to stipulations to the contrary contained in the policies. The stipulation for partial indemnity in case of additional policies being taken out in other companies, with the consent of defendant, did not change defendant’s liability to pay the full sum named in the policy.</p> <p>(4) The mere fact that the sum of the several policies gave the insured full indemnity for the loss furnished no grounds for refusing to pay the several policies. In order to secure good faith on the part of the insured, the first company could, under the contract, have refused to allow him to insure in other companies.</p> <p>(o) To the extent that the policy covered personal property, its provisions as to the share of loss to be suffered by the insured, as to contributions by the several companies, and like matters, should be allowed full force a