New York Life Insurance Company, a Corporation v. Laveda Noonan

HEALY, Circuit Judge.

This is a suit on a policy of life insurance. The contract contained a clause barring recovery of the principal sum if death by suicide should occur within a year of the issuance of the policy. The insured became a suicide. The trial court, deeming the contract to be ambiguous as regards the date on which the year began to run, resolved the ambiguity in favor of the beneficiary (appellee here) and accordingly gave judgment for the latter. The sole question on the Company’s appeal is whether an ambiguity exists in the respect mentioned.

The application for the insurance was…