Chickasaw Cnty. Farmers' Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Weller

• Decision Date: 08 October 1896
• Citation: 68 N.W. 443,98 Iowa 731
• Parties: CHICKASAW COUNTY FARMERS' MUT. FIRE INS. CO. v. WELLER.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

98 Iowa 731

68 N.W. 443

CHICKASAW COUNTY FARMERS' MUT. FIRE INS. CO.

v.WELLER.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 8, 1896.

Appeal from district court, Chickasaw county; L. E. Fellows, Judge.

Action at law to recover $110, with interest, alleged to have been fraudulently obtained by the defendant from the plaintiff. The issues and facts appear in the opinion. The case was tried to the court, a finding of law and of facts made, and a judgment entered thereon for the plaintiff. Defendant appeals. Affirmed.William B. Perrin, for appellant.

F. F. Swale, for appellee.

GIVEN, J.

1. The learned district judge made the following findings of fact and of law, and we think the findings of facts are fully sustained by the evidence: “After the evidence and arguments of counsel were concluded, the following findings of fact and law were made by the court, to-wit: That plaintiff, the Chickasaw County Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company, a corporation duly organized under the laws of Iowa, issued to the defendant an insurance policy in the year 1875, which policy has remained in full force from the time it was issued down to the date of the commencement of this action; that on or about the 10th day of September, 1893, some stacks of hay covered by the insurance company with the insurance policy thus issued to the defendant were burned, and the defendant sustained a loss thereby, for which the plaintiff was liable under this policy; that both the plaintiff and the defendant claim, and have claimed in attempting to adjust the loss, that the loss was occasioned through the negligence of the Chicago Great Western Railway Company, and that the Chicago Great Western Railway Company was ultimately liable for the payment of the loss; that on or about the 19th day of March, 1894, the defendant, having made a claim against the said railway company for the loss of the hay in question, made a settlement with that company, and on the 24th day of March, 1894, received full payment of said railway company for the loss thus sustained; that on the same day that the settlement was made with the railway company the defendant notified the plaintiff that he was ready to receive and receipt for $110 from that company in payment of the same loss, this being the amount that had been agreed upon between him and the insurance company as the amount to be paid by the company for the loss; that the defendant, in thus notifying the plaintiff, did not notify the plaintiff that he had made a settlement of the same claim with the railway company, and that the insurance company or its officers had no notice that the railway company had thus settled and paid the loss to the defendant; that on the 12th day of April, 1894, and without any knowledge or notice that the loss had been adjusted by the railway company with the defendant, the plaintiff paid the defendant said sum of $110, and took his receipt therefor; that the plaintiff in this action claimed during all the negotiations for settlement, and the defendant knew that the plaintiff claimed, that if it paid the loss to him under the policy issued to him it was the insurance company's right to recover back the amount thus paid, if it could, from the railway company. As a conclusion based on these facts, I find that the settlement made by the railway company with the defendant extinguished his claim, both as against the railway company and the insurance company, and in receiving money from the insurance company after having received it from the railway company, and without giving the insurance company notice of the fact that he had thus received the money, he received the money wrongfully, and is liable to refund the money to the company, and that the plaintiff is entitled to judgment against him for it in this action; and judgment will be entered accordingly, with interest at 6 per cent....