Eagle Star & British Dominions v. Tadlock

• Decision Date: 05 March 1938
• Docket Number: No. 886-Y.,886-Y.
• Citation: 22 F. Supp. 545
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
• Parties: EAGLE STAR & BRITISH DOMINIONS v. TADLOCK et al.

22 F. Supp. 545

EAGLE STAR & BRITISH DOMINIONS v. TADLOCK et al.

No. 886-Y.

District Court, S. D. California, Central Division.

March 5, 1938.

Lloyd S. Nix, of Los Angeles, Cal., for Garbutt-Walsh.

J. F. DuPaul and Lindley & Higgins, all of San Diego, Cal., for Security Trust & Savings Bank of San Diego.

YANKWICH, District Judge.

The Eagle Star & British Dominions, a British insurance corporation, filed a bill in interpleader, 28 U.S.C.A. § 41(26), and paid into the registry of the court the proceeds of an insurance policy on the fishing boat Yellowtail. The Yellowtail was an oil screw vessel of the burden of eighteen tons with a gross capacity of thirty-two tons, owned by M. G. Tadlock. The policy was for $8,000. The amount actually paid into court was $7,160, the insurance company having deducted the premium on the policy. The amount, from which must be deducted the solicitors' fees and costs allowed to the complainant, is being claimed by the Security Trust & Savings Bank of San Diego, to whom we shall refer as "the bank," and Garbutt-Walsh, a copartnership, consisting of Matt J. Walsh and Frank E. Garbutt, claimants of a maritime lien for repairs and improvements on the boat, to whom we shall refer as "the boatbuilders."

At the time of the loss, the bank had a note and mortgage on the boat, signed by M. G. Tadlock, owner, on which a total of principal and interest of $9,097.15 was due. The mortgage, although registered, was not a preferred mortgage. 46 U.S.C.A. § 922. It required the owner to keep the Yellowtail insured, at all times, with a "good and responsible insurance company," selected and approved by the bank "for an amount at least equal to the amount which shall, from time to time, remain unpaid upon the said indebtedness and interest thereon" and to keep it renewed and valid at all times.

When the boat was turned over to the boatbuilders, no agreement was made by them with the owner or master that insurance be procured for their benefit, to cover the projected repairs and improvements. The boat was originally covered by a policy of marine insurance in the sum of $7,000, with loss payable to the owner and the bank "as their respective interest may appear." About December 23, 1935, the boat was taken to the boat yard of Garbutt-Walsh at San Pedro, California, by its master. Between that date and January 29, 1936, with his and the owner's knowledge and consent, Garbutt-Walsh furnished material and labor for the repair and improvement of the boat to the value of $4,358.06. On January 29, 1936, the boat left their yard at San Pedro and proceeded to San Diego, its home port. On February 2, it left on a voyage during which, on February 22, 1936, as a result of a gasoline explosion, it burned and sank at sea, a total loss.

While the repairs and improvements were being made on the boat, the boatbuilders asked their insurance broker to secure insurance to cover their claim, the full amount of which was not yet determined. The broker secured a temporary coverage of $1,800. Later, after many negotiations, a new policy, dated February 5, 1936, for $8,000 was issued, with loss payable to M. G. Tadlock, Security Trust & Savings Bank of San Diego, California, and Garbutt-Walsh "as their respective interest may appear." The policy was delivered to the bank and the old policy for $7,000 was canceled.

The fundamental question involved is this:

Are the boatbuilders entitled to the payment, out of the proceeds, of the full value of the labor and materials furnished to the Yellowtail? They had a maritime lien, having made the repairs and improvements at the behest of the master of the vessel, who was in charge for the owner.

This lien was not destroyed by the provision in the bank's mortgage which gave the mortgagee the right to declare default in case the owner permitted the vessel "to be run in debt to an amount exceeding in the aggregate the sum of No dollars." 46 U.S.C.A. §§ 971, 973; The Yankee, 1916, 3 Cir., 233 F. 919; The Luddco 41, 1933, 9 Cir., 66 F.2d 997. It was superior to the mortgage of the bank (Morse Dry Dock Co. v. Northern Star, 1926, 271 U.S. 552, 46 S.Ct. 589, 70 L. Ed. 1082), and gave Garbutt-Walsh an insurable interest in the vessel. See Merchants Mut. Insurance Company v. Baring, 1874, 20 Wall. 159, 87 U.S. 159, 22 L.Ed. 250; Hooper v. Robinson, 1878, 98 U.S. 528, 25 L.Ed. 219; Globe & Rutgers Fire Ins. Co. v. Rose, 1937, 8 Cir., 91 F.2d 635. The owner's insurable interest is not questioned. 38 Corpus Juris 1012; Arnould on Marine Insurance, 11th Ed., 1924, §§ 298, 299.

With the total destruction of the Yellowtail, the maritime lien was lost (38 Corpus Juris 1247; Collins v. Fort Wayne, D.C.1861, 6 Fed.Cas. 119, 122, No. 3012), and the security for it and the mortgage was gone.

The new policy of insurance insured the owner, M. G. Tadlock, Security Trust & Savings Bank of San Diego, and Garbutt-Walsh "as their respective interest may appear" and made "loss, if any, payable to them."

Neither the bank, mortgagee, nor Garbutt-Walsh, lien-claimants, were designated as such. The boat having been lost, the right to the proceeds of the insurance depends not upon the mortgage, but upon the contract of insurance.

The words "as their interest may appear," in insurance policies, have been before the courts repeatedly. They refer to debts owed by the insured. When a mortgagee is so designated, the clause, usually referred to as "the open mortgage clause," means that the insurer will pay the mortgagee "to the extent of his lien or charge upon the premises" at the time of loss. Sias v. Roger Williams Insurance Co., C.C.N.H.1880, 8 F. 187, 188. And see Trustees of Thayer Academy v. Corporation of Royal Exchange Assur. Co., 1932, 281 Mass. 150, 183 N.E. 264, 266; Norwich Union Fire Insurance Soc. v. Citizens' Bldg. & Loan Ass'n, 1928, Tex.Civ.App., 7 S.W.2d 144. The mortgagee stands in the shoes of the insured and becomes his agent to receive the proceeds of the policy. The "interest" of the mortgagee is his interest not in the property, but in the proceeds. Place v. Norwich & N. Y. Transp. Co., City of Norwich, 1886, 118 U.S. 468, 6 S.Ct. 1150, 30 L.Ed. 134; Reynolds v. London, etc., Ins. Co., 1900, 128 Cal. 16, 60 P. 467, 79 Am.St.Rep. 17; Alexander v. Security First Nat. Bank of Los Angeles, 1936, 7 Cal.2d 718, 62 P.2d 735; Hayward Lumber & Investment Co. v. Lyders, 1934, 139 Cal.App. 517, 34 P.2d 805; Walker v. Queen Insurance Co., 1926, 136 S.C. 144, 134 S.E. 263, 52 A.L.R. 259; 5 Couch on Insurance, 1929, § 1215a. His indemnity is "subject to the risk of every act and neglect of the mortgagor which would avoid the original policy in his hands." Delaware Insurance Co. v. Greer, 1903, 8 Cir., 120 F. 916, 918, 919, 61 L. R.A. 137; See: St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Ruddy, 1924, 8 Cir., 299 F. 189; Ætna Insurance Co. v. Houston Oil & Transport Co., 1931, 5 Cir., 49 F.2d 121, 1931 A.M.C. 995. When several persons are designated as beneficiaries, and the clause "as their interest may appear" is worded in the subjunctive mood, it postulates their respective interest, not at the time the policy of insurance is issued, but "such interest as by proper proofs is shown to appear at the time of the loss." Fenton v. Cascade Mutual Fire Ass'n, 1910, 60 Wash. 389, 111 P. 343, 344. And see Atlas Reduction Co. v. New Zealand Ins. Co., 1905, 8 Cir., 138 F. 497, 9 L.R.A., N.S., 433.

Even in the case of a sole mortgagee, the clause is intended to provide for the contingency of a reduction in the debt between the date of the policy and the date of the loss. Attleborough Savings Bank v. Security Insurance Co., 1897, 168 Mass. 147, 149, 46 N.E. 390, 60 Am.St.Rep. 373. And where a fund is provided for the benefit of persons holding debts of unequal amount and the amount is insufficient to pay them all, an intention to distribute to each a proportionate amount may be presumed. Weber v. Weber, 1935, 169 Md. 702, 181 A. 670.

The policy of insurance here does not refer to the bank as "mortgagee" or to the boatbuilders as "lien claimant." Nor does it disclose the amount of the claim of either.

So we must resort to extrinsic evidence to determine their interests at the time of the loss.

Had the policy of insurance been issued, in its inception, to the owner, bank and boatbuilders, without any other understanding, it might be argued plausibly that the boatbuilders should share, at least in proportion to the amount of...