Martin v. Travelers Indemnity Co.

WISDOM, Circuit Judge:

This diversity appeal requires us to decide two intricate and interrelated questions of insurance law — as we think the highest court of Mississippi would decide them. In addition, the parties have locked horns over a number of subsidiary issues relating to the procedure followed in the court below.

Charles Kinnard Brown, known throughout these proceedings as Charles Kinnard (or simply “Kinnard”), worked for a number of years at a service station near Utica, Mississippi, owned by Hubbard Butane Company. Hubbard Butane was, in turn, owned by Charles Hubbard; the service…