Stoner v. New York Life Insurance

Respondent insurance company brought this suit in the federal district court for a declaratory judgment that it was no longer obligated to make disability payments to petitioner or to waive payment of premiums under the total disability clauses of insurance policies issued to petitioner prior to 1931. The question is whether the Circuit Court of Appeals should have followed two decisions of the Kansas City Court of Appeals in earlier suits between the same parties.

In June, T931, petitioner fell and seriously injured his left ankle. The injury is pernfanent. For about two years after the…