Wyoming Farm Bureau Mutual Ins. Co., a Corp. v. Curtis L. Smith and Jamie L. Smith

In this case the appellant Insurance Company brought suit in the court below seeking a declaratory judgment to the effect that no contract for fire insurance existed between itself and the appellee defendants at the time defendants’ poultry house and contents were destroyed by fire. The defendants counterclaimed asserting that plaintiff had ip fact insured them against loss by fire and asked for damages on account of the fire referred to. In the court below the defendants had judgment on their counterclaim in the sum of $17,934, the court holding that the loss by fire was in fact insured by the appellant. This appeal followed.

All of the facts in the case are set forth with great particularity in the opinion of the district court. Wyoming Farm Bureau Mutual Ins. Co. v. Smith, et al., 259 F.Supp. 870 , and it is therefore unnecessary to incorporate those facts in this opinion. The opinion sets forth the verdict of the jury to which certain issues were submitted and the opinion is stated to constitute the court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law.

The appeal is based upon the fact that the Smiths made a written application for insurance on the 25th day of January, 1964,…