Abilene Savings Association v. Westchester Fire Insurance Company, St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company

(dissenting) :

Erie cases produce eerie results, as this case so well demonstrates. For despite the fact that the assured acted as any reasonable person would have under the circumstances and that the insurer suffered no prejudice from his actions, the Court here allows an insurer to escape its obligation to indemnify an undisputed loss simply because the assured did not do something which nobody suggests it could reasonably have been expected .to do at an earlier time.

The place where the Court goes wrong, it seems to me, is in failing to appreciate precisely what the provision in controversy…