Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1892 — A Michigan Decision. [ARTICLE]

A Michigan Decision.

The Michigan Supreme Court has handed down an opinion in Mitchell vs. St. Paul German Insurance Company. The plaintiffs sustained damage by Are upon manufactured lumber in their yards to the amount of $176,000 and upward,upon which they carried an insurance of $133,500 under concurrent policies. The market value of the lumber was $10.64 per 1,000, but they should he entitled to recover only for the actual cost of producing the lumber, $3.65 per thousand less than the market value. In other words, they were not entitled to recover for the profits. Settlement was made on the above basis, and suit was brought against defendant company, which carried $2,000 upon the lumber, to recover the balance, all/the other companies agreeing to abide by the result. The company was beaten in the court below, and the Supreme Court now affirmed the judgment. Justice Long writes the opinion and says in substance; “The contract must be construed the same as though the insured had no stumpage or mill of their own, and that they should recover the market value at the date of the Are. Any other would mean a different construction upon policies of persons' differently situated. Had the Insured not been manufacturing lumber no question would hs raised. Had the insured sold the timber and removed the mill, as they had a right previous to the Are, the measure of damage would have been the cost, of replacing in open market. If the theory of defendant be true the contract would be construed one way on its inception and, by change of circumstances, another at the time o/ the Are.”