Consoli v. Com. Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 04 December 1951
• Citation: Consoli v. Com. Ins. Co., 84 A.2d 926, 97 N.H. 224 (N.H. 1951)
• Parties: CONSOLI v. COMMONWEALTH INS. CO. CONSOLI v. FIREMAN'S FUND INS. CO.
• Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court

Page 926

84 A.2d 926

97 N.H. 224

CONSOLI v.COMMONWEALTH INS. CO.

CONSOLI v.FIREMAN'S FUND INS. CO.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire.

Dec. 4, 1951.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 2, 1952.

John B. Ford, Salem Depot, for plaintiff.

Paul E. Nourie, Manchester, for defendants.

KENISON, Justice.

The decision of the Trial Court that this was a 'friendly fire' and was not covered by the fire insurance policies is supported by the overwhelming weight of authority in the United States.5 Couch, Insurance, § 1207;Hanson v. Lemars Mut. Ins. Co., 193 Iowa 1, 186 N.W. 468, 20 A.L.R. 967;Coryell v. Old Colony Ins. Co., 118 Neb. 312, 229 N.W. 326, 68 A.L.R. 231;45 C.J.S., Insurance, § 809;29 Am.Jur. § 1016; Patterson, Cases and Materials on Insurance (1947) 410, 411. 5 Appleman, Insurance§ 3082.The cases make a distinction between a hostile fire which is covered by the policy and a friendly fire which is not covered by the policy.Abbot, the Meaning of Fire in an Insurance Policy against Loss or Damage by Fire. 24 Harv.L.Rev. 119;37 YaleL.J. 264;49 Harv.L.Rev. 485, However the entire distinction has been attacked (Vance, Friendly Fires1 Conn. B.J. 284) and one court refused to allow it.Salmon v. Concordia Fire Ins. Co., La.App., 161 So. 340.But the decision of the Louisiana intermediate court has not been followed by any court of last resort.

The expression 'hostile fire' has come to be used as a shorthand description of a fire which is accidental in its origin.A reasonable man in the position of the insured is barred from recovery under his fire insurance policy if he wilfully fails to prevent the spread of a hostile fire.Manter v. Boston Fire Insurance Co., 93 N.H. 21, 35 A.2d 196; Patterson, Cases and Materials on Insurance (1947) 421.A reasonable man in the position of the insured would not expect his policy to cover loss due to a fire intentionally kindled.He should no more expect that damage from heat produced by such fire be considered loss due to accidental fire.Mode, Limited v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 62 Idaho 270, 110 P.2d 840, 133 A.L.R. 791.The character of the fire would not be changed by the fact that insured property was placed too close to it.A fire burning in a stove which does not escape is not considered a hostile fire covered by the policy even though damage results from the excessive heat caused thereby.Lavitt v. Hartford County Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 105 Conn. 729, 136 A. 572;McGraw v. Home Ins. Co. of New York, 93 Kan. 482, 144 P. 821;Sigourney Produce Co. v. Milwaukee Mechanics Ins. Co., 211 Iowa 1203, 235 N.W. 284.

The only case which considered excessive heat constituted a hostile fire is O'Connor v. Queen Insurance Co., 140 Wis. 388, 122 N.W. 1038, 25 L.R.A., N.S., 501 and recent decisions have not followed it.Only last year the whole problem of overheated oil burners causing damage by excessive heat was reconsidered in Connecticut and Massachusetts and it was held that they were friendly fires not covered by the fire insurance policies.Spare v. Glens Falls Ins. Co., 137 Conn. 105, 75 A.2d 64;Wasserman v. Caledonian-American Ins. Co., 326 Mass. 518, 95 N.E.2d 547.There cases state the rule as it exists today and as it has been in the United States for more than a half century.Way v. Abington Mutual Ins. Co., 166 Mass. 67, 43 N.E. 1032, 32 L.R.A. 608;Patterson, Insurance Law During the War Years, 46 Col.L.Rev. 345, 362.

Plaintiff concedes that a plethora of authority has been amassed against his right to recover but argues that the doctrine is erroneous, unsound and contrary to what a reasonable man would understand his fire insurance policy to mean.This argument is not devoid of some substantial merit but it has been rejected so consistently and for so long a period of time, even in states which construe insurance policies strictly against the insurance company, that its adoption today becomes more a legislative function than a judicial one.Cf.Cushman v. Grafton County, 97 N.H. 32, 79 A.2d 630, where the legal right of a county to purchase liability insurance against negligence for which it was not liable was promptly changed by legislative act.Laws 1951, c. 197.What should or should not be in a standard fire insurance policy presents a legislative question.Crichton, The Statutory Fire Insurance Policy, Insurance Law Journal(Oct. 1951)p. 785.While a court has the duty to construe an insurance contract in a reasonable manner, it is not free to rewrite its terms by giving them a meaning which they never had.If public policy requires a different interpretation in the light of modern conditions (see5 Appleman, Insurancep. 216), the policy should be stated by the Legislature in advance rather than by the judiciary after the loss has occurred.

Exceptions overruled.

BLANDIN and LAMPRON, JJ., dissented; the others concurred.

BLANDIN, Justice (dissenting).

The law in this state from time immemorial has been that an insurance policy means what a reasonable person in the position of the insured would understand it meant.Terrien v. Company, 96 N.H. 182, 186, 71 A.2d 742, and cases cited.Here the policy provided that the defendant company would pay the insured for 'any loss or damage' to his property 'by fire originating from any cause...