Old Colony Insurance v. Jeffery's Mill & Warehouse, Inc.

Plaintiff, Old Colony Insurance Company, a corporation, has brought this action as the subrogee of the assured, Taylor-Walcott Company, a copartnership, (hereinafter referred to as TaylorWalcott) to recover from the defendant, Jeffery’s Mill & Warehouse Company, Inc., a corporation, the sum of $37,818.-31 as damages growing out of the loss of certain grain, which was owned by Taylor-Walcott, and which was destroyed by fire while in the defendant’s warehouse on September 23, 1953. Plaintiff claims the right to recover this money from the defendant warehouse company on the theory of subrogation. Defendant has challenged plaintiff’s right to bring this action as a subrogee, and bases this contention on a clause in the contract of insurance between plaintiff and TaylorWalcott, which is a form of waiver of the right of subrogation. The disposition of this case rests on the interpretation of that clause as it relates to plaintiff. That clause is paragraph 6(a) of the policy of insurance and reads as follows:

Defendant contends first, that the assured, Taylor-Walcott, gave it a release from liability at the time the grain in question was stored in defendant’s warehouse; and second, that…