Knox-Seeman Motor Parts, Inc. v. American Insurance

Statement of the Case

For the sake of convenience and brevity the plaintiff will hereinafter be referred to as Knox-Seeman, and the defendants, respectively, will be referred to as American and Carlton.

Plaintiff Knox-Seeman brought suit against Beneficial Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, hereinafter referred to as Beneficial, American and Carlton for declaratory relief and to recover damages for loss of property situated at its place of business at 5218 Avalon Boulevard, in the City of Los Angeles, and which was destroyed by fire on August 13, 14 and 15, 1965, as the result of the Watts riots, and which was claimed to be insured by policies issued by Beneficial and American. The action against Carlton was based upon the claim that Carlton was the agent of Beneficial and that he negligently failed to place insurance with Beneficial as requested by plantiff resulting in coverage of only $10,000 on the property destroyed when plaintiff had asked, and paid premiums for a coverage of $135,000. At the conclusion of plaintiff’s evidence, American moved for a judgment pursuant to section 631.8 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The court made its findings of fact and…