Swing v. Marion Pulp Company

Decision Date22 February 1911
Docket Number6,909
PartiesSWING, TRUSTEE, v. MARION PULP COMPANY
CourtIndiana Appellate Court

From Grant Superior Court; P. H. Elliott, Judge.

Action by James B. Swing, as trustee of the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, against the Marion Pulp Company. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff appeals.

Affirmed.

Todd & Rauch and Patterson A. Reece, for appellant.

St John, Charles and Gemmill, for appellee.

OPINION

MYERS, C. J.

James B. Swing, as trustee for the creditors of the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio, brought this action against the Marion Pulp Company, as a policy-holder in said company, to recover an assessment alleged to be due and unpaid.

The complaint, in substance, shows that the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, hereafter referred to as the company, on December 18, 1890, was disincorporated by a decree entered by the supreme court of Ohio, and on June 11, 1901, by a decree of that court, defendant was assessed $ 290.80; that said company was a mutual fire insurance company incorporated under the laws of Ohio; that at the time the policies were issued to the defendant said laws in force provided that every person who effects insurance in a mutual company and continues to be insured shall thereby become members of the company during the period of insurance, and shall be bound to pay for losses, and for such necessary expenses as accrue in and to the company, in proportion to the original amount of his deposit note or contingent liability, and fixing such contingent liability at not less than three nor more than five annual cash premiums, as written in the policy; that by reason of said policies held by defendant, it incurred a contingent liability of five times the amount of its annual premium.

Defendant answered in four paragraphs. The first was a general denial. The second admitted that the defendant contracted with said company for the policies named in the complaint; that said policies were issued by said company to defendant; but in substance it is averred that at the time said contracts of insurance were entered into, and at the time of the final dissolution of said company, and at the time plaintiff was appointed as trustee to wind up its affairs, it was a foreign insurance company, organized under the laws of the State of Ohio, and during all of that time and continuously thereafter, defendant has been and is now a resident of Grant county, Indiana; that said property named in said policies of insurance is located in Grant county Indiana; that said contracts were made, and said policies delivered to defendant in said county and state; that at the time said contracts were made and delivered to defendant, said company had not complied with the laws of the State of Indiana relating to foreign insurance companies' doing business in this State, nor has said insurance company at any time since the making of said contracts and the issuing and delivering of said policies complied with said laws of Indiana, wherefore said contracts are null and void. The third and fourth paragraphs averred that plaintiff's cause of action did not accrue within six and ten years, respectively.

Plaintiff for reply to the affirmative paragraphs of answer, admitted that at the time the policies referred to in the answer were issued, and thereafter until the date of dissolution and ouster of the company, it was a foreign insurance company, incorporated under the laws of the State of Ohio, having its home office at Cincinnati, and that defendant was at all times and still is a resident of Indiana; that at the time said contracts of insurance were made, issued and delivered to said defendant, said insurance company had not complied...

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