Miltenberger v. Beacom

• Decision Date: 16 October 1848
• Citation: 9 Pa. 198
• Parties: MILTENBERGER <I>v.</I> BEACOM.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 198

9 Pa. 198

MILTENBERGER v. BEACOM.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

October 16, 1848.

IN error from the District Court of Allegheny.

Craft, for plaintiff in error.

T. Hamilton and T. Williams, contrà.

Oct. 16. BELL, J.

It is the observation of Marshall, in his Treatise on Insurance, that it would be extremely difficult to give any accurate definition of an insurable interest. The complicated rights which different persons may have in the same thing, require that not only the owner of the absolute property, but those, also, who have a limited interest, may be at liberty to protect it by insurance. It is accordingly recognised as a rule in this department of the law, that almost any qualified property in the thing insured, or any reasonable expectation of profit or advantage to spring from it, may be the subject of this species of contract, provided it be founded in some legal or equitable title: Marshall on Ins. 105. Thus a disseisor, especially after the right of entry is tolled, may represent the estate as his own, and effect an insurance of it, for he is the owner, though his title be defeasible: Curry v. The Com. In. Co., 10 Pick. 541. So may a mortgagor, to the full value of the estate, after it has been taken out of his hands by the mortgagee, if the right to redeem still resides in the former: Columbia Ins. Co. v. Lawrence, 2 Pet. S. C. Rep. 25. And a consignee who has accepted bills on the credit of the goods consigned (Wolff v. Horncastle, 1 Bos. & Pul. 316), or made advances on the faith of the consignment, may insure them in his own name: Parks et al. v. The General Ins. Co. 5 Pick. 34. In Strong v. The Manufacturers' Ins. Co., 10 Pick. 43, it is said that the value of the plaintiff's interest in the subject insured is not material. If he had an insurable interest at the time the policy was effected, and also at the time of the loss, he may recover the whole amount of damages done to the property, not exceeding the sum insured. Under this doctrine it is scarcely to be doubted that the plaintiff in error, having entered upon the demised premises by virtue of the covenants contained in the instrument called a perpetual lease, and looking to the tenements thereon erected as the chief, if not only, source of payment of the rent in arrear, had such an interest in them as was insurable to the extent of their value. The destruction of these houses involved as well the means of payment of existing arrears as of future rents. It was, therefore, the interest of the plaintiff in error to preserve them, or to secure the means of rebuilding them in the event of disaster. In this respect, his relation to the property was, in principle, similar to that of an insuring consignee to secure advances; or of the possessor of a qualified interest in the premises, subject to defeasance, as, for instance, a mortgagee or disseisor. I can, therefore, perceive no legal objection to a policy on the houses in question, purchased by him in his own name, and intended to cover only his interest in the annual rent. But were this otherwise, it seems to be settled that one who has, in fraud of the underwriters, received a sum insured by him to protect a pretended interest without existence, is not liable over to the owner of the property described in the policy. In Grant v. Hill, 4 Taunt. 380, Sir James Mansfield declares that such wrongful receipt, without any consideration, would not operate to convert the party into a trustee of the true owner, and consequently the latter could not recover in an action for money had and received; and in this the whole court concurred.

But, on the other hand, it is very clear one may insure, in his own name, the property of another for the benefit of the owner, without his previous authority or sanction; and it will enure to the party intended to be protected, upon his subsequent adoption of it, even after a loss has occurred. This doctrine was asserted in Durand v. Thouron, 1 Porter's Ala. Rep. 238, and Watkins v. Durand, Ib. 251. In the first of these cases, the policy was of the goods in the defendant's store, without discrimination; but it appeared the plaintiff's goods, which had been deposited with the defendant for sale, were included in the list of goods insured; and the defendant, after the loss, promised to account with the plaintiff for their proportion of the subscription. On the trial, the defendant requested the court to instruct the jury, that if no instructions to insure were given by the plaintiff, when the goods were deposited or before the fire, the goods were not covered. This the court refused to do; and, on error brought, this refusal...