New York & Oriental SS Co. v. Automobile Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 20 January 1930
• Docket Number: No. 175.,175.
• Citation: 37 F.2d 461
• Parties: NEW YORK & ORIENTAL S. S. CO., Inc., v. AUTOMOBILE INS. CO. OF HARTFORD, CONN.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

37 F.2d 461 (1930)

NEW YORK & ORIENTAL S. S. CO., Inc., v. AUTOMOBILE INS. CO. OF HARTFORD, CONN.

No. 175.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

January 20, 1930.

Herman Goldman, of New York City (Elkan Turk, of New York City, and Benjamin Wiener, of Brooklyn, N. Y., of counsel), for appellant.

Bigham, Englar & Jones, of New York City (Arthur W. Clement and Henry J. Bogatko, both of New York City, of counsel), for appellee.

Before L. HAND, SWAN, and MACK, Circuit Judges.

SWAN, Circuit Judge (after stating the facts as above).

The plaintiff undertakes to maintain the position that the one-year limitation for suit, contained in the policy, forms no part of the contract of insurance made between the parties. Counsel's contentions are (1) that the certificate itself evidences a complete contract of insurance of the collectible freight against the peril of stranding and resulting jettison; and (2) that, if the certificate alone is not sufficient to disclose what risks are covered, then reference may be made to the policy, but only for the purpose of completing the terms of the certificate, and not for the purpose of defeating it by incorporating the one-year clause. Unless constrained by controlling authority, we cannot give our assent to either contention.

1. The certificate recites that defendant "insured under policy No. 100000" in a stated amount "on collectible freight." The certificate itself contains no definition anywhere of the perils insured against — with a possible exception, not material to the present suit, of "the risk of breakage, leakage or rust," as provided in the breakage clause in the addenda. Plaintiff argues that insurance against the peril of stranding is to be found by implication from the following provisions, the one first quoted being typewritten on the face of the certificate: "Free of particular average under 3%. Each interest separately insured or vessel be stranded, sunk, burnt, on fire, or in collision, including lighterage." And the latter being printed among the addenda: "1. Warranted free from particular average unless the vessel or craft be stranded, sunk, burnt, on fire or in collision."

The first clause is so phrased as to be almost unintelligible. An identical clause appears in the binder. We construe it as an attempt to state that the insurer will not be liable in case of partial loss, unless that loss with respect to each interest insured exceeds 3%, or unless the vessel (or the lighter, if cargo was being lightered) was stranded, sunk, etc. So construed, it is similar to the second clause above quoted. That clause has a long legal history, during which it has acquired a precise meaning, as expounded in London Assurance Co. v. Companhia de Moagens, 167 U. S. 149, where at page 162 of the opinion (17 S. Ct. 785, 790, 42 L. Ed. 113) by Mr. Justice Peckham, it is said:

"The English courts have held, and do now hold, that the expression, `free of particular average unless the vessel be stranded,' meant that if a loss occurred during the adventure, although from a cause not related in any way to the stranding of the ship, the insurers were liable upon the general language of the policy."

The clause starts by excepting from coverage partial losses; it then states a condition upon which the exception shall disappear. Read logically, it does not define the risks at all, but states an exception to an exception. The liability of the insurer for losses due to stranding is not founded upon implication from the exception, but "upon the general language of the policy." It is impossible to treat the certificate as the complete contract of insurance; reference must be had to the policy to determine what risks are covered. There one finds, in dignified and antique phrase:

"Touching the adventures and perils which the said Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, is contented to bear and take upon itself in this voyage, they are of the seas, fires, pirates, rovers, assailing thieves, jettisons, criminal barratry of the master and mariners, * * * and all other like perils and disasters that have or shall come to the said goods and merchandises, or any part thereof."

2. If we must incorporate that portion of the policy which defines the risks, on what theory are we to stop there? It is true that the terms of the policy cannot be incorporated in toto into the contract of insurance between the parties. The policy is framed expressly for cargo insurance; many of its clauses are plainly inapplicable to freight insurance, and some are inconsistent with provisions found among the addenda to the certificate. Hence incorporation of terms of the policy requires selection among them. Plaintiff contends that we may incorporate only the statement of perils insured against; but such a rule would be in the teeth of any rational theory of contracts, and quite contrary to generally applied principles of incorporating by reference the provisions of one document into the terms of another. See Brandyce v. Globe & Rutgers Fire Ins. Co., 252 N. Y. 69, 168 N. E. 832; Royster Guano Co. v. G. & R. Fire Ins. Co., 252 N. Y. 75, 168 N. E. 834.

We see no principle by which the selective process is to be guided, except to adopt all provisions of the policy which are appropriate to freight insurance and not expressly or impliedly excluded by the terms of the certificate. The one-year limitation is certainly as appropriate to insurance on freight as to cargo insurance, and nothing is found in the certificate inconsistent with the inclusion of such a limitation. Clause 8 of the addenda, which relates to reporting losses promptly, cannot be so regarded. Indeed, the policy itself contains a clause as to reporting losses (perhaps inconsistent with said clause 8), as well as the one-year limitation for suit.

It is urged that the recital, "This certificate represents and takes the place of the policy," etc., and the references to "liability under this certificate," indicate an intention to substitute the certificate for the policy. But this is refuted, not only by the opening recital that defendant has "insured under policy 100000," but also by the warehouse to warehouse clause ("including, subject to the terms of the policy, all risks covered by this policy"), by the adjustment clause ("subject to the conditions of the policy"), and by the necessity of looking to the policy to find the risks covered. True, the warehouse clause, to which reference has just been made, is doubtless inapplicable to a freight insurance; but this, we submit, is irrelevant, when one is considering whether the language of the certificate discloses an intent to incorporate only so much of the policy as defines the risks insured against, or to incorporate all applicable terms of the policy.

Courts justly feel an inclination to construe obscurely worded documents against the party who puts them out. The practice of insurance companies to evidence their contracts by certificates containing a general reference to open policies, which are retained in their own offices and embody all sorts of provisions, many inappropriate to the insurance covered by the certificate, results in the two documents together presenting a jumble of inconsistent, redundant, and irrelevant clauses. Such a practice cannot fail to promote litigation, and well merits the harsh criticism directed against it by the English judges in the De Monchy Case, about to be mentioned. Nevertheless, for the reasons already stated, we are of opinion that the limitation of suit clause contained in the policy should be deemed a part of the contract...