Must Pay For The Beans

MUST PAY FOR THE BEANS

Judge Kinne Decides the Kearney Insurance Case

THE BEANS WERE BURNED

That Is the Decision In the Hardest Fought Insurance Case Ever Held In the County

Judge Kinne has filed his opinion in the celebrated bean fire insurance case of Thomas P. Kearney vs. Washtenaw Mutual Insurance Co. The case was a very hard fought one, the attorneys on both sides putting up an able and strong fight. The case is decided in favor of the plaintiff and the opinion is as follows:

The bill of complaint in this case is filed to enforce payment of a claim for loss by fire under a policy of insurance issued by the defendant company.

It is undoubtedly true that insurance companies suffer grievously through dishonest fires and dishonest claims and that the detection thereof is often impossible.

The prosperity and success of such companies demand careful scrutiny and constant vigilance and when suspicious circumstances exist, it is the duty of the officers of the company to engage in a thorough investigation, even if they fail to establish any fraud.

In this case the defendant insurance company admit that so far as Mr. Kearney is concerned this was an honest fire.

The main charge against Mr. Kearney rests upon the averment that he has made a claim for loss of beans, which in fact he did not suffer.

Facts, circumstances and human actions are often of such a character that to one of detective instincts, or to one prone to see evil, are capable or susceptible of being transformed from honest and innocent conditions into fraudulent and dishonest suggestions and appearances, but no man should be pronounced by a court guilty of a crime unless all reasonable doubt is removed, or the evidence of his crime is established by a chain of circumstances which cannot be rescinded with innocence.

After a full and careful review and consideration of all the evidence in this cause, I am not satisfied that Mr. Kearney has been guilty of any fraudulent or dishonest purpose or act.

This loss came to him suddenly without forethought or anticipation and he would be a remarkable man if some discrepancies did not arise between his earlier and hasty estimate of his losses and his later and more accurate report and mature claim. The making of an immediate and exact inventory of his losses under the existing circumstances would not have impressed me with his innocence. Confronted in this case with an open charge of fraud, it is possible that Mr. Kearney has gone to the extreme limit in his estimate of his losses; but I do not find from the evidence that he has made any willful misstatements or misrepresentations.

It has been my privilege and my duty to observe and watch with careful scrutiny his conduct on the stand and in the court room during nearly two weeks through which the trial has lasted. Instead of having the appearance of a skulking criminal or a villain ready to compromise, he has had the bearing of a man who was apparently fearless of opposing testimony and only determined to secure and establish his rights.

For some reasons which are unknown to this court and were not made manifest upon this trial, Mr. Kearney has evidently incurred the ill will of certain parties some of whom appeared as witnesses at the trial and whose testimony was worse than worthless, and it is probable that these same parties are largely responsible for the prejudice which was created and which resulted in the contest of this claim.

So far as the officers of the company are concerned they have only done what they deemed to be their duty; acting upon the belief that the circumstances demanded a thorough investigation.

I can only say that in my opinion the evidence in this cause does not justify me in concurring in the claims and conclusions of their counsel.

I find from the evidence that the following claims should be allowed at the following figures: Three harnesses $ 30.00 Buckeye drill , 25.00 Three plows 12.00 Ann Arbor mower 15.00 Ann Arbor horse rake 10.00 Two buggies 45.00 Iron cultivator 2.00 Two-horse Robison cultivator. . 20.00 Fanning mill 10.00 Hay fork rope 4.00 Stack canvas 12.00 Thirty spike tooth harrow 7.00 Hay tedder 5.00 60 tons of hay, at $6 360.00 37 acres of clover seed 100.00 500 bushels of beans, at 80c. . . 400.00

Total $1,057.00 Less 1/3 under the policy 352.33

Leaving $ 704.67

Adding loss of barn 200.00

Making total allowance. . . .$ 904.67

The complainant is, I think, entitled to a decree for $904.07 and costs to be taxed.