Aetna Ins. Co. v. Hannibal & St. J. R.
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Missouri
[At law. On demurrer to petition. Demurrer sustained.] The plaintiff insured the personal property of one Myron H. Balcom, situate adjoining the defendant’s railway, for $1,900. Within the lifetime of the policy, property covered by it to the value of $2,214 was destroyed by the carelessness of the defendant’s servants in the use of its locomotive engine.
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[At law. On demurrer to petition. Demurrer sustained.] The plaintiff insured the personal property of one Myron H. Balcom, situate adjoining the defendant’s railway, for $1,900. Within the lifetime of the policy, property covered by it to the value of $2,214 was destroyed by the carelessness of the defendant’s servants in the use of its locomotive engine. The insurance company paid Balcom, in full satisfaction for all claim under his policy, $1,050, and received from him a written instrument reciting the foregoing facts, and assigning to it all his right to recover on account of said loss…
1Opinion of the Court
DILLON, Circuit Judge.
The property-destroyed exceeded in value the amount insured, and the rule of law has been long settled that the insurance company, on the payment of the loss, cannot sue the wrongdoer who occasioned it in its own name. The suit, though for the use of the insurer, must be in the name of the person whose property was destroyed. The wrongful act was single and indivisible, and gives rise to but one liability. If one insurer may sue, then, if there are a dozen, each may sue, and if the aggregate amount of all the policies falls short of the actual loss, the owner could sue…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance v. New York & New Haven RailroadSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1856
- Rockingham Mutual Fire Ins. v. BosherSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1855
- Peoria Marine & Fire Insurance v. FrostIllinois Supreme Court · 1865
3Cited by22 opinions
- Krause v. State Farm Mutual Automobile InsuranceNebraska Supreme Court · 1969
- Shawnee Fire Insurance v. CosgroveSupreme Court of Kansas · 1911
- Norwich Union Fire Ins. Soc. v. Standard Oil Co.Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 1894
- Powell v. . Water Co.Supreme Court of North Carolina · 1916
- Marine Ins. v. St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co.U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Arkansas · 1890
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