Washington National Bank v. Smith

Citations

• 15 Wash. 160
• 45 P. 736
• 1896 Wash. LEXIS 157

Syllabus

<p>INSURANCE OF PROPERTY BY MORTGAGEE — FIXTURES — INTENTION OF ONE ATTACHING MACHINERY TO REALTY.</p> <p>Where insurance has been effected upon mortgaged premises by the mortgagee, it must be presumed, in the absence of any communication of a contrary intent to the mortgagors, that it was so done in pursuance of a right reserved in the mortgage providing that the mortgagee might keep the property insured at the expense of the mortgagors, and that moneys paid for premiums should be a lien upon the mortgaged property and collected under the terms of the mortgage.</p> <p>Where policies of insurance upon mortgaged property are taken out by a mortgagee in the name of the mortgagors, with a provision that the loss, if any, should be payable to the mortgagee as her interest might appear, the mortgagee cannot show by oral testimony that the contracts were not made by her as mortgagee but that the policies were taken out for her sole benefit and that the premiums paid were not intended to be charged against the mortgagors under the conditions of the mortgage authorizing her to insure, if the mortgagors failed to do so.</p> <p>The intention to make machinery a permanent part of the building to which it is attached cannot be proved by testimony as to the actual state of mind of the person attaching it to the real estate at the time of its annexation, but must be gathered from circumstances surrounding the transaction, and from what was said and done at the time.</p>