Wall v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of United States

This is an appeal by the defendant from an order of the superior court granting plaintiff’s motion for a new trial after judgment for the defendant.

The action is one at law, not in equity, for the recovery of damages for failure to pay death benefits upon a life policy— not one for the reformation of a contract. No contention is made by the plaintiff that the contract of insurance is ambiguous; in fact, she contended at the trial and again in the oral argument before this court that it is not ambiguous, and that none of the surrounding circumstances are admissible in evidence for the purpose…