W. S. Weed & Co. v. Cuming

Citations

• 12 Pa. Super. 412
• 1900 Pa. Super. LEXIS 256

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Void contract by individual insurer — Cause of action.</p> <p>No action will lie on a contract which the legislature has declared shall be void if made.</p> <p>A contract by an individual to pay an insurance loss is a void contract under the Act of February 4, 1870, P. L. 14.</p> <p>Void contract for insurance — Proof—Failure of cause of action.</p> <p>Whenever the evidence in a given ease shows that the contract sued upon has been declared void by statute, the court will of its own motion and without request from the party interested and even against his wishes, refuse to allow a recovery.</p> <p>When a plaintiff, as in the case at bar, must prove that a promise to pay an insurance loss, found nowhere except in a policy which the law declares to be void, has been made and broken, he can only prove that it was made by putting in evidence the policy, but when he shows its existence he must show that it is void, and as he may not recover on a void contract his action must fail.</p> <p>Illegal contracts — Equitable estoppel inapplicable.</p> <p>The cases where the law of ultra vires must give way to the law of estoppel have no application to a void contract of insurance entered into by an individual insurer. There is no room for equitable presumptions or estoppels, in cases of illegal contracts.</p>