Rice v. Palatine Insrance

Citations

• 17 Pa. Super. 261
• 1901 Pa. Super. LEXIS 298

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Fire insurance — Proof of loss — Waiver—Total loss.</p> <p>Where a house and barn are insured under the same policy, and the amount to be paid for each of the two buildings in case of a total loss is fixed, and there is a total loss, and the general representative of the company is notified, verifies the fact by inspection, and accepts verbal statements of the insured which are reduced to writing by the company’s representative, and sixty days after the fire an adjuster is sent to adjust the loss, the question is for the jury whether the company has not waived a stipulation in the policy requiring sworn proofs of loss within sixty days after the fire.</p> <p>Where a policy of fire insurance provides that an “ ascertainment or estimate shall be made by the insured and this company, or if they differ then by appraisers,” the company must show that an honest effort was made to agree upon the amount of the loss before it can estop the insured by setting up the failure of the insured to show an appraiser.</p> <p>Insurance — Fire insurance — Statement—Pleading.</p> <p>In an action upon a policy of fire insurance where the plaintiff in his statement avers that he “ has fully complied with the terms of said policy so far as the law requires him to do so,” and no exception is taken to the form of his statement by an affidavit of defense, demurrer, or rule for a . more specific statement, and the defendant enters pleas of non assumpsit, payment with leave, etc., the defendant cannot after trial on the merits and on appeal allege that the statement failed to aver performance of the conditions of the policy, or a waiver. Such a statement is but a loose statement of a good cause of action which might have been required to have been made more specific by amendment, if objection had been promptly made.</p>