Recovery May Be Had on a Property Insurance Policy Antedated to Include Time at Which Loss Occurred

Date

1970

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Texas Tech Law Review

Abstract

Summarizes the Texas Supreme Court case Burch v. Commonwealth County Mutual Insurance Company. In Burch, Burch purchased automobile insurance from Hardin, who assured Burch that the vehicle was now insured. Burch was then involved in an automobile accident and suffered damages, but was unable to immediately inform Hardin. Subsequently, Hardin, who suspected that his company would not accept the risk that Burch posed, offered the policy to Barron, an agent of Commonwealth County Mutual Insurance Company, who accepted and wrote the policy. When Barron’s insurance company learned of the accident they sued to cancel the policy, and Burch cross-claimed to recover. The Texas Supreme Court held that as long as neither party knew of the loss, a property insurance contract may protect against prior loss. This holding reversed authority that precluded against such a possibility and included Texas in the nation’s majority view on the question.

Description

Keywords

Insurance policy, Prior loss, Contract, Burch v. Commonwealth County Mutual Insurance Company, Case note

Citation

2 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 140