People v. Kanan

BURKE, P. J.

Defendant was charged with a violation of Insurance Code section 556 (presenting a false and fraudulent claim). His motion under Penal Code section 995 to

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set aside the information upon the ground that he had been committed without reasonable or probable cause was granted. It is the People’s position on appeal that the court erroneously granted the motion under Penal Code, section 995.

Defendant claimed a $10,000 loss from his insurance company for the destruction of an insured building by fire. In his claim he alleged that the building had a cash value of $10,000, was totally destroyed by the fire about 1 a. m. on June 13, 1961, and that the loss was $10,000.

Defendant had telephoned an insurance agent on June 6, 1961, for purposes of securing insurance on the building and described it as being a frame dwelling with a shingle roof. He advised the agent that the dwelling had been vacant but that he had been storing some saddles, trunks and dresses on the property. On June 10 the agent went out to look at the property because it was located in Agoura and there was some question as to whether he could secure an insurance company to cover the property in that location. He found that the windows were all boarded up, the door had a padlock on it, the building was in a very run-down condition, there was no plumbing or electricity in the building, there were no plastered walls, only one room had a ceiling, the internal structure had been weakened from rain, and the total size was approximately 20 feet by 20 feet or, roughly, the size of a double garage. After inspecting the property the agent telephoned and talked to a person who identified herself as the wife of defendant and he told her he didn’t know who gave her the value of the property “. . . but they were very much in the wrong as to the value, and that in the meantime we would have the appraiser come out and appraise it for the present value.”

The testimony showed that the building in question was a mere shack about 50 years old; that its only value was for the wood it contained which witnesses variously described as being worth anywhere from perhaps $50 to “not over a couple of hundred ’ ’; that the rain came through the roof of the building; and that there was no regular foundation.