Wilson v. Concordia Farmers Mut. Ins. Co., 25662

• Citation: 479 S.W.2d 159
• Decision Date: 03 April 1972
• Docket Number: No. 25662,25662
• Parties: Jackie E. WILSON and Shelby J. Wilson, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CONCORDIA FARMERS MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, a Mutual Insurance Company, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Missouri (US)

Page 159

479 S.W.2d 159

Jackie E. WILSON and Shelby J. Wilson, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CONCORDIA FARMERS MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, a Mutual Insurance Company, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 25662.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Kansas City District.

April 3, 1972.

Morgan M. Moulder, Camdenton, for plaintiffs-appellants.

W. R. Schelp, Lexington, for defendant-respondent.

PER CURIAM:

This is an appeal by plaintiffs from an adverse jury verdict and judgment in their action upon a fire insurance policy issued by defendant Concordia Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. Defendant insurer denied liability under a policy provision which suspended the coverage 'while the hazard is increased by any means within the control and knowledge of the insured; . . .'

The facts disclose that defendant issued its policy insuring Jackie E. Wilson and Shelby J. Wilson, his wife, against loss by fire to the dwelling and attached house trailer located in Gilliam, Missouri, in the sum of $4,500.00 for a term of one year, beginning April 8, 1969. In July, 1969, Mr. Wilson obtained new employment in Montreal, Missouri, and plaintiffs moved their household and personal effects from their residence in Gilliam to their new home in Montreal, Missouri, during July and August, 1969.

On the evening of September 3, 1969, plaintiff Jackie Wilson drove to the property, taking a U-Haul trailer, to pick up all the remaining personal effects. He was accompanied by Harold Boggs, and they met Gerald DeWeese at the house and loaded everything in the trailer, using flashlights, as the electricity, gas, and oil had been turned off. They finished about 10:00 or 10:30 p.m., when DeWeese left in his truck, and plaintiff took Boggs to Slater, Missouri, which was three or four miles from plaintiffs' house and took about ten minutes to drive there. The house was cleaned out pretty well and was closed up and locked when they left.

Jessie Burton, who lived across the street from the Wilson house, testified he was awakened by some noise about 11 o'clock that night and saw Mr. Wilson backing the U-Haul trailer by the side of the house and also saw a pickup truck, which drove away. He was awakened later by a rattling and banging noise, which sounded like loading something on the trailer. After a while he got up and saw that the house was on fire. He told his wife to call the fire department, and he dressed and went to the scene. The sheriff's records show the fire was reported at 11:45 p.m.

Experienced fire investigators inspected the building and trailer shortly after the fire and presented testimony and photographic evidence of five separate and distinct fires in various locations in the premises with no interconnection burning. In these areas they found containers for turpentine, paint and varnish, charcoal lighter fluid, and the melted remains of glass containers which the investigator testified could not have been caused from normal combustibles but were the result of exposure to intense heat of a flammable liquid such as turpentine for a period of one to five minutes. The burned areas had a distinctive charred 'burn pattern,' which results when a flammable liquid is poured on the floor, and photo exhibits showed the charred fire pattern coming from the various containers found in the building and introduced in evidence. The undisputed evidence was that such conditions would increase the hazard and chance of a fire loss and make the property much more susceptible to burning.

I

The first point in plaintiffs' brief is 'the verdict is against the greater weight of the credible evidence and is against the law under the evidence.' The attempted point raises nothing for review. Almost innumerable appellate decisions have held that a reviewing court, is not authorized to weigh the evidence and that whether a jury's verdict is against the weight of the evidence is a question for the trial court alone. See Curtis v. Curtis, Mo.Sup., 427 S.W.2d 410, Neavil v. Klemp., Mo.Sup., 427 S.W.2d 446; also see 3A Mo. Digest Appeal and Error k1003. The question whether there is any substantial evidence, however, is for the appellate court's determination. That question is substantially what is raised by plaintiffs' fourth point, and our review of the evidence will be made in connection with that portion of this opinion.

II

Plaintiffs' second point is that the court erred in overruling Mrs. Wilson's motion to exclude all evidence with reference to the separate conduct of the plaintiff Jackie Wilson on the night of the fire, citing Walker v. Phoenix Ins. Co., 62 Mo.App. 209. The facts are not the same. In Walker the policy insured the husband only, who was the sole party plaintiff and owner of the insured property. The court expressly found there was no evidence that he assented to, connived at or was in privity with his wife in any manner, and held that her unlawful acts, if any, could not be charged to him. Because of substantial difference in the situation here, the Walker case is not in point.

Here the insured property belonged to both plaintiffs and they were jointly insured under the policy, pursuant to application made by the husband as agent for both. The property involved constituted their joint dwelling in Gilliam until the husband obtained new employment in July, 1969, and then both plaintiffs moved jointly to their new joint house in Montreal, Missouri. The purpose of the events which occurred from July through the night of the fire was to remove said joint possessions from one joint house to the other. After the fire, the husband continued to act for both in signing...