Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. v. Wilburn Boat Co.
Decision Date | 23 March 1962 |
Docket Number | No. 18722.,18722. |
Citation | 300 F.2d 631 |
Parties | FIREMAN'S FUND INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. WILBURN BOAT COMPANY et al., Appellees. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Edward B. Hayes, Chicago, Ill., Joe A. Keith, Sherman, Tex., Warren C. Ingersoll, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
Hobert Price, Dallas, Tex., T. G. Schirmeyer, Houston Tex., Gullett & Gullett, Denison, Tex., for appellees.
Before TUTTLE, Chief Judge, and HUTCHESON and JONES, Circuit Judges.
This is the third appearance of this case in this Court. It has been tried three times in the trial court and has been once to the Supreme Court of the United States. On the first trial it appeared that the plaintiffs, Wilburn Boat Company, conceded that specific warranties contained in the policy of marine insurance sued on against use for other than private pleasure, against pledge and against sale, had been violated. The trial judge thereupon held that the contract should be interpreted under general maritime law requiring literal performance of warranties and that this rule could not be affected by state law. This Court affirmed in 5 Cir., 201 F.2d 833.
The Supreme Court, 348 U.S. 310, 75 S.Ct. 368, 99 L.Ed. 337, reversed the decision of this Court and of the trial court and held that state laws should be applied in the field of marine insurance, at least "where entrenched federal precedent is lacking," with respect to a specific issue. The Court determined that there was no such entrenched federal precedent as to the effect to be accorded the warranties.
The second trial and appeal are without significance in light of the fact that the case was finally heard and decided on the merits by the district court without the intervention of a jury and a new record completely made as the basis of the appeal that is now before us. The district court concluded that the insurance policy was a Texas contract and that under the Texas law the defenses relied on by the insurance company were not available to it. The court entered a judgment in favor of the plaintiffs.
The defenses asserted by the insurance company were many. They are all urged here on the assumption that the basic findings of evidentiary facts by the trial court can be accepted as true, although the insurer does attack some of the inferences drawn by the trial court from the admitted facts. To place the issues in focus, it is necessary to set out the facts as found by the district court. Before doing so, however, a short explanatory statement will help in understanding the court's findings.
It is not questioned that there were at least three plain breaches of warranty and some eight or nine untrue or false (these terms are used without implying whether they were or were not fraudulent) statements made or facts concealed. These misstatements are of several kinds:
(1) Actual misrepresentations made to the company when the policy was obtained or when the coverage was increased, and which were thus susceptible of being acted on by the company; (2) Statements made on a form submitted to the Wilburn brothers after the coverage had been increased, in order to justify the increase, but which statements may not actually have been acted upon before the loss of the boat. These statements were on a form called an "application" form in the court's findings of fact. This form was not submitted to the insurance company as a part of an application for the policy or for increase in coverage, but as a source of information sought by the company.
The court's findings of fact are:
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