Patricia Rohde v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company

JOHN W. PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.

This is a diversity action under Ohio law in which the district court entered judgment for the defendant insurance company declaring that no insurance contract existed on the life of plaintiff’s deceased husband. Plaintiff contends that defendant’s bad faith determination that her husband was an unacceptable risk entitles her, as beneficiary, to recover the full value of the insurance policy applied for by her husband. We agree and reverse the judgment of the district court.

I

Plaintiff is the widow of a man who applied for life insurance, arranged for payment…