Robb v. Millers Mutual Fire Insurance

Citations

• 230 Pa. 44
• 79 A. 150
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 559

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Fire insurance — Stipulation as to employment of mechanics — Waiver.</p> <p>1. Where a policy of fire insurance provides that the insurance shall be void if mechanics are employed upon the building for more than fifteen days at any one time without the consent of the company, the court commits no error in holding as a matter of law that the insurance is void, where the uncontradicted evidence shows that the owner entered upon the specific work of raising the building, that this was done with a well defined plan as a whole to be carried on from commencement to completion, that the work was given to different contractors, no one of whom exceeded the fifteen days’ limit, but that the work covered at least thirty days, not however consecutively, before its completion.</p> <p>2. In such a case the company will not be deemed to have waived the forfeiture by evidence that at the time the insurance was placed the owner told the secretary of the company of the proposed change, and that the latter said that it was all right, and that it ought to be done and pretty soon, and that it would increase the value of the property and decrease the hazard. Such language of the secretary, even if it were more than a mere, expression of his opinion, and held out as an inducement to secure the contract, would not bind the company where it appears that both the written application for insurance and by-laws of the company printed in the policy stipulated that the company should not be bound by any act or statement of an agent, unless inserted in the application, indorsed on the policy, or otherwise acknowledged in writing by the president or secretary of the company.</p>