American Glove Co. v. Pennsylvania Fire Insurance

This is an appeal from an order denying plaintiff’s motion for a new trial in an action brought by it upon a fire insurance policy issued by the defendant company.

The policy covered certain property located in San Francisco, and it was issued November 25, 1905, insuring the property in the sum of $1,500 for one year from November 30th following. It contained among others the following provision : “This policy shall be canceled at any time at the request of the insured, or by the company giving five days’ notice of such cancellation.”

The property insured was destroyed April 19, 1906. The sole question in the case is whether or not the policy was in force at the time of the loss or had been canceled prior to that time by the defendant.

The evidence in the case upon the point was briefly as follows: R. W. Osborn was the Pacific Coast manager of the defendant. Ten days before the loss occurred, on April 9, 1906, the following notice was mailed to plaintiff:

This notice was received by plaintiff on April 11th, eight days before the loss. On April 13th a second notice was mailed to plaintiff, in which, referring to the earlier notice, it was said:

This second notice was not…