Henry M. Summers petitions the court for assistance in collecting insurance money for the loss of his slave. On 25 November 1852, Summers “made a policy of insurance” with the United States Insurance Annuity and Trust Company of Philadelphia, in which he insured five slaves "for the term of twelve months." On or about 1 November 1853, one of the slaves named Townley Johnson died, "having been lost overboard, from the Steamboat 'Emperor' in the Mississippi River." Summers complains that the insurance company refuses to pay him $800, the amount for which he insured Johnson. The insurance company argues that Henry Summers insured the five slaves as tobacco warehouse laborers, but employed them on a sugar plantation, a more hazardous occupation in violation of the insurance agreement. The company instructed him to file a suit against the owners of the boat, but that cause was dismissed. Summers prays that the court order the United States Insurance Annuity and Trust Company to pay him the sum of $800 with interest.
Result: Granted; appealed; affirmed.
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Repository: University of New Orleans
