James J. Reid v. Life Insurance Company of North America, Inc., a Corporation

WIDENER, Circuit Judge:

James Reid brought this diversity action against the Life Insurance Company of North America to recover benefits under a policy of accident insurance. The policy provides benefits for accidental “loss of one member,” which is defined as a “hand, foot or eye.” The policy defines “loss” as “actual severance through or above the wrist or ankle joints. ... ” The district court held the policy term “actual severance” to be ambiguous, and liberally construed the language to cover what it found to be Reid’s functional loss of a leg after he underwent surgery for the…