Commercial Union Insurance v. City of Wichita

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Foth, C.:

This action arose out of the fire bombing of the Gentry Shop, a Wichita clothing establishment, in the early morning hours of August 10, 1968. Plaintiffs are three insurance companies which had issued fire policies on the establishment and who paid the owner an aggregate of $141,748.01 for the loss sustained. As subrogees they brought this action to recoup the loss from the City of Wichita, the Wichita chief of police, the assistant chief of police, and Detective George Lux. Their theory of liability, as set forth in the pre-trial order, was:

“T…