Hartford Fire Ins. Co. v. Walker

• Decision Date: 08 April 1901
• Citation: 61 S.W. 711
• Parties: HARTFORD FIRE INS. CO. v. WALKER.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

61 S.W. 711

HARTFORD FIRE INS. CO. v. WALKER.

Supreme Court of Texas.

April 8, 1901.

Error to court of civil appeals of Second supreme judicial district.

Action by A. J. Walker against the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. From a judgment of the court of civil appeals (60 S. W. 820) affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant brings error. Reversed.

Finley, Harris, Etheridge & Knight, for plaintiff in error. Stuart & Bell and C. R. Pearman, for defendant in error.

BROWN, J.

On the 2d day of November, 1898, the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, through its general agent for the state of Texas, D. E. Grove, issued and delivered to A. J. Walker, the defendant in error, a policy of insurance for $1,692.71 upon a gin house and certain gin machinery, consisting of engines, boilers, etc., all situated in Montague county, the property of said A. J. Walker. The property was destroyed by fire, and, the company having refused to pay the policy, this suit was instituted by Walker to recover the amount named in the policy. No question is presented in this court upon the pleadings of either party, but the pleadings of both are sufficient to present the issues which the evidence tends to support. The facts are, briefly, that J. H. Blanton was local agent for the insurance company at the city of Gainesville, Tex., with authority to receive applications for insurance upon gin property, and to forward them to D. E. Grove, at Dallas, Tex., who alone had the power to issue a policy upon that class of property. Blanton had no authority to issue a policy for the plaintiff in error upon gin property. When the policy was sent by Grove to Blanton, it was accompanied by the application, upon which was the following indorsement, which Walker was required to sign before the policy should be delivered: "I acknowledge receipt of policy No. 11,630, issued on this application, and hereby warrant that I have read and considered all the questions and answers in the application; and said answers are correctly recorded under my direction, and I warrant them to be true as written. [Signed] A. J. Walker, Assured." When the policy was delivered, Walker signed the indorsement above copied, and the application was returned to Grove, at Dallas. In the application the following question was asked: "Has any company declined this risk?" Answer: "No." Walker had before that time applied, through Blanton, to another company for insurance upon the same property, which application was refused; and, when the application to plaintiff in error was made, Walker did not know that it was to be sent to a different company, and Blanton knew at that time that the application had been rejected by another company. Walker could neither read nor write, except to sign his name. The application contained these provisions: "[He] covenants and agrees to and with the said company that this application is a just, true, and full exposition of all the facts and circumstances in regard to the condition, situation, value, and risk of the property to be insured, and that no fact or information material to the risk has been omitted or withheld, and further submits the statements and answers foregoing as a basis on which the insurance is to issue, and that they are understood as forming the basis and a part of any policy contract that may be issued hereon by the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. * * * It is further understood and agreed that the general agent of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company alone has authority to act for the company in any manner as to the insurance hereby requested." Upon the face of the policy, in large red letters, was this indorsement: "As per written and printed form attached hereto; special reference being had to the assured's application, No. 11,630, on file in this company's office at Dallas, Texas, which is hereby made his warranty and a part of this policy. It being specially stipulated that the general agent signing this policy alone has authority to represent or act (as agent or otherwise) for the company in any manner as to this policy." The policy contained the following provisions pertinent to the question presented: "This policy is made and accepted subject to the foregoing stipulations and conditions, together with such other provisions, agreements, or conditions as may be indorsed thereon or added thereto; and no officer, agent, or other representative of this company shall have power to waive any condition or provision of this policy, except such as by the terms of this policy may be subject to agreement indorsed hereon or added hereto, and, as to such provisions and conditions, no officer, agent, or other representative shall have such power or be deemed or held to have waived such provision or condition, unless such waiver, if any, shall be written upon or attached hereto; nor shall any privilege or permission affecting the insurance under this policy exist or be claimed by the insured unless so written or attached." And further: "Special reference being had to the assured's application, on which this policy is...