State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Missouri > T24 > C379 > 379_140Company not to deny value--full amount of policy to be paid.
379.140. In all suits brought upon policies of insuranceagainst loss or damage by fire hereafter issued or renewed, thedefendant shall not be permitted to deny that the propertyinsured thereby was worth at the time of the issuing of thepolicy the full amount insured therein on said property; and incase of total loss of the property insured, the measure of damageshall be the amount for which the same was insured, less whateverdepreciation in value, below the amount for which the property isinsured, the property may have sustained between the time ofissuing the policy and the time of the loss, and the burden ofproving such depreciation shall be upon the defendant; and incase of partial loss, the measure of damage shall be that portionof the value of the whole property insured, ascertained in themanner prescribed in this chapter, which the part injured ordestroyed bears to the whole property insured.
(RSMo 1939 § 5930)Prior revisions: 1929 § 5819; 1919 § 6229; 1909 § 7020
(1964) Measure of damages in suit on fire insurance policy in absence of fraud is arbitrarily fixed at the amount for which property was insured, less depreciation, and court is foreclosed from considering whether insured, if it recovers on more than one policy, will have received more insurance than property was worth. MFA Mutual Ins. Co. v. Southwest Baptist Col., Inc. (Mo.), 381 S.W.2d 797.
(1964) Where fire loss exceeded aggregate of two fire policies, one insurer could not limit recovery to value of insurer's interest as vendor under sale contract. Miller v. National Fire Insurance Company (A.), 386 S.W.2d 668.
(1969) This section does not preclude insurer from questioning whether original insurable interest has been terminated. Lumbermen's Mutual Insurance Co. v. Edmister (A.), 412 F.2d 351.
(1970) The valued policy laws of Missouri are not limited in their application to insurance against loss by fire of improvements on real property but apply as well to policies of fire insurance on personal property. Prior cases to the contrary were overruled. Duckworth v. United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co. (A.), 452 S.W.2d 280.
