Provident Mutual Life Insurance v. Ehrlich

OPINION OF THE COURT

WEIS, Circuit Judge.

The break up of a family is an unhappy affair whose consequences linger on long after the event and often involve strangers as well as those directly concerned. In this case a life insurance company finds itself in the unpleasant position of being beset by competing claims of two wives of a deceased insured. While both have sympathetic appeal, we conclude that only one can prevail here. The decision of the district court in making an award to both women, while somewhat solomonic in nature, we find to lack legal support.

Dr. Edward Ehrlich left his wife,…