The Price of a Fire
A local merchant sues an insurance company after a warehouse blaze leaves him empty-handed.
In the superior court today George T. Thompson and Oscar Cain, attorneys for R. H. Osborn, commenced an action against the Pioneer Mutual Fire association of Seattle, to recover the sum of $2000. In the complaint Osborn alleges that May 2, 1903, he took out insurance to the amount of $2000 on a stock of notions that he had in a building on Main street, paying to the company the sum of $40 as a premium for said insurance. July 29, the building which he was occupying was destroyed by fire, including his entire stock. Shortly afterward an insurance adjuster came to Walla Walla and inspected the ruins of the fire. Osborn demanded the amount of his insurance. Thereupon the adjuster notified him that he would have to file with the company a duplicate invoice of the stock he had on hand at the time the fire occurred. This Osborn could not do and the company refused to settle. He claims that his entire loss was $3000 and he asks for judgment against the company in the sum of $2000 and his costs incurred in bringing the suit.
“This Osborn could not do and the company refused to settle.”
Insurance disputes over lost inventory remain a common point of contention for local business owners. Today, digital record-keeping has replaced the paper invoice struggles that plagued merchants like Osborn a century ago.
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