Hutchings

This appeal is from a judgment in favor of the defendant.

Plaintiff was the owner of an automobile which he sold to one Brown on an installment contract. Nine days thereafter the defendant issued to plaintiff an insurance policy which, among other things, purported to insure plaintiff against the embezzlement of the automobile by Brown. One of the covenants contained in the insurance policy was the following:

It is urged by respondent that the fact that at the time the insurance policy was issued, the automobile was not registered in the name of plaintiff had the effect of voiding the policy. With reference to the situation covered by such “condition precedent” in the policy, the case of Raulet v. Northwestern National Ins. Co., 157 Cal. 213 [ 107 Pac. 292 ], would appear to be controlling in principle. In that case the insurance policy, which covered certain furniture, contained a clause in substance that if the insured property either was, or should become, “encumbered with a chattel mortgage,” the policy should be void. It appeared that at the time the policy was issued there was in fact a chattel mortgage upon the property to secure the payment of rent for the building in…