Vaudreuil Lumber Co. v. Ætna Cas. & Sur. Co.
| Decision Date | 29 April 1930 |
| Citation | 230 N.W. 704,201 Wis. 518 |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
| Parties | VAUDREUIL LUMBER CO. v. ÆTNA CASUALTY & SURETY CO. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court for Chippewa County; James Wickham, Circuit Judge. Affirmed.
Action by the Vaudreuil Lumber Company against the Ætna Casualty & Surety Company begun April 13, 1929, to recover upon a policy of burglary insurance. From a judgment for the plaintiff entered May 9, 1929, the defendant appealed.
Defendant issued to the plaintiff a policy of insurance against loss by the felonious abstraction of property from within plaintiff's vault “while closed and locked by at least one combination or time lock, and located in the assured's premises as defined herein or elsewhere after removal therefrom by burglars, after entry into such safe or vault has been effected by force and violence by the use of tools, explosives, electricity, gas or other chemicals directly upon the exterior thereof, of which force and violence there shall be visible marks.” The policy further provided that the company should not be liable “for any loss effected by opening any safe or vault insured hereunder by the use of any key or by the manipulation of any lock.”
The vault had outer doors locked by a combination lock. There were also inner doors which were locked with a key, which had to be opened before one could secure access to the interior of the vault. The vault was entered and cash taken. Entrance to the vault was effected by manipulating the combination lock and by the use of force and violence upon the inner doors which left visible marks upon these vault doors.Linderman, Ramsdell & King, of Eau Claire, for appellant.
W. H. Stafford and Harold E. Stafford, both of Chippewa Falls, for respondent.
[1][2] The single question presented is whether the use of force upon the inner doors is an “entry into such * * * vault * * * effected by force and violence by the use of tools * * * directly upon the exterior” of the vault within the meaning of this provision of the policy.
The policy in question is not one prescribed by statute, but one drafted by the defendant company. As to such a policy, “it is a familiar rule that in case of doubt or ambiguity the language of an insurance policy should be construed most strongly against the insurer.” Reeves v. Midland Casualty Co., 170 Wis. 370, 373, 174 N. W. 475, 476, 959. “When the policy is capable of two meanings, that which is most...
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