Prudential Insurance Company of America v. Alma Mae Long Gourley

While I think the decision is a close one, I concur in the view of the majority that Alabama law, which is controlling here, requires the conclusion that the facts made out a case for the jury upon the question whether under the applicable Alabama statute, Long’s misrepresentations of fact were “made with actual intent to deceive”. This is so because the answer to the question permitted, in deed required not an objective but a subjective determination, not whether certain facts existed, but the state of mind of the insured with regard to the objective facts. Cf. Equitable Life Assurance…