QUASI CONTRACTS - INSURANCE - RECOVERY OF PREMIUMS WHEN PARTIES MISTAKEN AS TO VALUE OF THE SUBJECT MATTER OF INSURANCE CONTRACT

Authors

Louis C. Andrews, Jr., University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

Plaintiff's intestate, a resident of Georgia, owned items of jewelry which were located in Germany and which were subject to a death tax there, intestate having died in Germany. An appraisal was made by a German court commissioner in assessing the tax and a copy of the appraisal was forwarded to plaintiff executor, who, relying thereon, effected a policy of insurance with the defendant covering all the goods, the principal item being a pearl necklace appraised at $60,000. It was discovered on the safe arrival of the jewelry that the pearl necklace was worth but $60.00, being composed of cultured pearls. Plaintiff seeks to recover the premium which was paid for the insurance policy. Held, plaintiff is not entitled to restitution because it is likely that had the necklace been lost the defendant would never have been able to prove the mistake and would have had to pay on the basis of the $60,000 valuation. It would be inequitable to allow the plaintiff to recover the premium since actually defendant assumed the risk. Orient Insurance Co. v. Dunlap, 193 Ga. 241, 17 S. E. (2d) 703 (1941).

Recommended Citation

Louis C. Andrews, Jr., QUASI CONTRACTS - INSURANCE - RECOVERY OF PREMIUMS WHEN PARTIES MISTAKEN AS TO VALUE OF THE SUBJECT MATTER OF INSURANCE CONTRACT, 41 Mich. L. Rev. 345 (1942).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol41/iss2/20