The issue in this case was whether a report of inventory values, mailed by an automobile dealer one day before a loss, was "received by" the insurer in accordance with the policy's reporting requirement. Trial court judgment in favor of the insured dealer was appealed by the insurance company.

The insured mailed its inventory report for the month of April on May 14, a fact acknowledged by the insurer. Its vehicle inventory was damaged by a hailstorm in excess of $100,000 during the evening of May 15. The insurer received the report of values on May 16, the day after the loss.

The policy's reporting provision required a report of values as of the last day of each calendar month within 15 days after the end of that month. It further provided for loss payment based on "....the percentage the last report of auto values (received by us prior to the loss) bears to the cost of all such autos that you should have reported."

The report of values that the insured had submitted for the month of March was 30 percent lower than the inventory on the date of loss. Asserting that the March report was the last "received" prior to the loss, the insurer paid the insured 70 percent of its total loss. The insured, in its lawsuit, sought payment of the remaining 30 percent that it alleged was due under the policy.

The insurance company argued that "....the term 'received' cannot mean mailed by the insured but must mean physically received at (our) office." The appeal court relied on a deposit-payment rule, widely followed with respect to premium payment requirements when the term "received" is not qualified in a policy: "Where the insurer has requested or acquiesced in the sending of premiums by mail, the payment is deemed to have been made at the time it was deposited in the mail." (In the case at hand the report was accompanied by a premium check.) The court concluded that the rule should also determine the time the report of values was effective.

The judgment of the trial court was affirmed in favor of the insured and against the insurer.

(UNIVERSAL UNDERWRITERS INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant v. DALTON BUICK ET AL., Appellee. Nebraska Appellate Court. No. A-92-463. August 3, 1993. CCH 1993-94 Fire and Casualty Cases, Paragraph 4531.)