Slocum v. United Insurance
New York Supreme Court
This was an action on a policy of insurance, dated the 26th January, 1799, on a cargo of the schooner Goliah, from New York to New Orleans. ■ The cause was tried before Mr. Justice Kent, at the last circuit in the city of New York, when it appeared in evidence, that the vessel, on the 14th February, 1779, while proceeding on her voyage, was taken by a British privateer and carried into New Providence.
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This was an action on a policy of insurance, dated the 26th January, 1799, on a cargo of the schooner Goliah, from New York to New Orleans. ■ The cause was tried before Mr. Justice Kent, at the last circuit in the city of New York, when it appeared in evidence, that the vessel, on the 14th February, 1779, while proceeding on her voyage, was taken by a British privateer and carried into New Providence. As soon as the intelligence of her capture was received by the plaintiffs, to wit, on the 16th March .following, he abandoned his interest to the defendants, offering the usual proofs of…
1Opinion of the Court
Lansing, Ch. J.
delivered the opinion of the court. We have already decided this point in the case of Mumford v. Church, in the present term. The plaintiffs could only be governed by the information they possessed. On receiving the intelligence of the capture, they were entitled to abandon, and an abandonment once properly made is definitive, and fixes the rights of the parties. It may be revoked by mutual consent, or waived; but otherwise it is conclusive.
The plaintiffs are, therefore, entitled to recover as for a total loss.
Judgment for the plaintiff.
2Cited by1 opinion
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