Tenore v. American and Foreign Insurance Co. of NY
| Decision Date | 29 July 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 12179.,12179. |
| Citation | 256 F.2d 791 |
| Parties | Michael B. TENORE and Joseph Scaramuzzo, co-partners doing business as Rico Sales Company, a partnership, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. AMERICAN AND FOREIGN INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK et al., Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
John P. Gorman, Chicago, Ill. (Donald N. Clausen, Herbert W. Hirsh, Chicago, Ill., on the brief), for defendants-appellants.
Anna R. Lavin, Chicago, Ill. (Kenneth S. Nathan, Melvin L. Klafter, Chicago, Ill., on the brief), for plaintiffs-appellees.
Before DUFFY, Chief Judge, and SCHNACKENBERG and HASTINGS, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiffs bring this action on eight policies of fire insurance covering contents of a mail order gunshop located on West Division Street, Chicago, Illinois. The total amount of the policies was $80,000.00. A fire occurred on October 10, 1951. The proofs of loss submitted by plaintiffs were for $78,698.34. The case was tried to the Court. A judgment was entered in favor of plaintiffs in amounts aggregating $20,000.00.
In late July, 1951, plaintiffs entered into an equal partnership agreement to engage in "the business of buying, selling, trading of Guns, Gun parts, Surplus goods, Military goods, etc.", under the name of Rico Sales Company. Plaintiff Scaramuzzo had been engaged in the gunsmith business for some thirty years. In 1947 he set up a separate mail order business which he operated under the firm name of Rico Sales Company. He continued in the mail order business until late 1949 or early 1950. The partnership hereinbefore described was to reactivate and carry on under the old name of Rico Sales Company but from a new address, 5737 West Division Street, Chicago.
About the time of the removal of the stock to the new location, plaintiff Tenore arranged through a broker, to insure the personal property of the partnership for $80,000.00, and the policies of insurance were duly issued. One insurance company desired an inspection of the property and contents, and arranged for an appointment at the premies on October 10, 1951 at 10 a. m. When the parties arrived at the scheduled hour on October 10th, they discovered that during the night a serious fire, accompanied by explosions, had seriously damaged plaintiffs' property. The nature of the fire aroused suspicion and the origin of the fire was investigated, but the Chicago Fire Department listed the cause as "undetermined."
After the fire the windows and doors of the building were open, and the contents largely unprotected. By agreement of the parties concerned, the guns, gun parts and related merchandise were removed to a designated warehouse. The merchandise was sorted and placed on tables and the two plaintiffs made an inventory. The actual pricing or valuing of the merchandise was done later by Scaramuzzo, and he placed a value thereon of $78,698.34. This sum was incorporated into the sworn proofs of loss. The companies refused to pay, their principal defense being that the policies sued upon became and were rendered void because of the wilful and false swearing of the plaintiffs with respect to the value and loss of the property insured. Each of the policies here involved provided "The entire policy shall be void if, whether before or after a loss, the insured has willfully concealed or misrepresented any material facts or circumstances concerning this insurance or the subject thereof, * * * or in case of any fraud or false swearing by the insured relating thereto."
The inventory was divided into 532 items or lots. The first 161 lots were made up of one gun each. All of these guns had been used. Forty-five were listed as riot shotguns which although of 12 gauge had barrels of only twenty inches in length. A number of the guns were sawed-off shotguns, the sawing having been done in a crude manner. A number of the guns had cracked stocks, some of which had been wrapped with wire, others had no stocks at all. Still others were unusable because of missing parts. Sixty-six of the guns were Winchesters and ten were of the Ithaca make. Fifteen of the lots were parts for Thompson Machine guns.
The first sixty-five lots had been shipped out from the Winchester factory during the years from 1893 to 1912 except for one shipped in 1913 and two in 1917. The value which Scaramuzzo placed on these guns was $60.60 each, which was the catalog wholesale price for a new gun. His total for these guns was $3,939.00. A sales expert from the Winchester factory explained these guns were not collector's items as more than a million had been manufactured and sold. His total valuation for the sixty-five guns was $667.50.
The twelve Ithaca guns had been shipped to Wells Fargo Express Company between 1909 and 1917. They were listed as riot guns and had twenty-four inch barrels. Scaramuzzo valued these guns at $60.00 each, irrespective of previous condition. The sales manager for Ithaca Gun Company described the Ithaca guns as follows: * * *" For some reason the trial court struck out the testimony of this witness to the effect that it would be dangerous to use present-day heavy loads in these guns. The Ithaca expert valued these guns at from $5 to $7.50 each.
The trial court disregarded the testimony of the foregoing witnesses and stated that he chose to take the valuation of witnesses Lovell and Amber. Lovell is employed in the post office at Elmhurst, Illinois. He testified his "business on the side is gun parts." At one time he was an officer of the Illinois State Rifle Association. Lovell valued the entire inventory at $15,727.19. The witness Amber who is editor of the "Gun Digest" is also a gun collector. His valuation was from $13,290.25 to $15,796.73. The District Court said that he was adding something to the figures given by witnesses Lovell and Amber and came up with the final valuation of $18,940 for the stock in trade and $1060 for furniture and fixtures, or...
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