Opinion
March 22, 1969.
April 13, 1960.
Insurance — Notice of loss by insured to company — Filing of proof of loss — Unreasonable delay — Policy lost or mislaid — Negotiations with defendant's agent after insured's failure to comply — Waiver.
In this case, in which it appeared from plaintiff's complaint that defendant issued a policy of insurance protecting plaintiff against loss by theft, mysterious disappearance, etc., which provided that upon knowledge of a loss the insured should give notice thereof as soon as practicable to the company and should file proof of loss with the company within sixty days after the discovery of the loss; that plaintiff failed to give notice of loss for some eight or nine months after the discovery of the loss, averring that the policy had been lost or misplaced and that he was unaware of its existence; that plaintiff did not file a proof of loss until more than three months after discovery of the policy; and that plaintiff claimed that there was an oral waiver of the sending of notice, by reason of the fact that defendant's agent negotiated with plaintiff for the value of the loss and no mention was made of the filing of the proof of loss too late; it was Held that the court below properly sustained defendant's preliminary objections.
Before RHODES, P.J., GUNTHER, WRIGHT, WOODSIDE, ERVIN, WATKINS, and MONTGOMERY, JJ.
Appeal, No. 483, Oct. T., 1959, from judgment of Municipal Court of Philadelphia County, Sept. T., 1958, No. 1778, in case of Samuel Melnick v. American Casualty Company of Reading. Judgment affirmed.
Same case in court below: 20 Pa. D. C. 2d 231.
Assumpsit.
Defendant's preliminary objections to complaint sustained and order entered directing judgment for defendant, opinion by BOYLE, J. Plaintiff appealed.
Malcolm H. Waldron, Jr., with him Waldron Weitzman, for appellant.
Bernard J. Smolens, with him John J. McDevitt, 3rd, for appellee.
Argued March 22, 1960.
The judgment of the court below is affirmed on the opinion of Judge BOYLE, of the Municipal Court of Philadelphia, as reported in 20 Pa. D. C. 2d 231.