J.C. Penney Life Insurance Co. v. Pilosi

393 F.3d 356 (2004)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
J
From our private database of 46,200+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

J.C. Penney Life Insurance Co. v. Pilosi

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
393 F.3d 356 (2004)

Facts

Elaine Pilosi purchased life insurance from J.C. Penney Life Insurance Company (J.C. Penney Life) (plaintiff). The policy provided $1 million in death benefits if Pilosi accidentally died while on a public conveyance “operated by a duly licensed common carrier for regular passenger service.” The policy provided $100,000 if Pilosi accidentally died in a private passenger automobile and $50,000 for all other forms of accidental death. Caesars Casino (Caesars) regularly chartered flights from an air-charter service to fly specially invited casino guests to and from the casino. Pilosi was on one of these chartered flights when the aircraft crashed, and she was killed. Pilosi’s sons (defendants) made a claim under Pilosi’s life-insurance policy for $1 million. J.C. Penney Life paid the sons $50,000. J.C. Penney Life then filed a declaratory-judgment action, asking the court to determine whether the sons were entitled to the $1 million benefit and presenting evidence that the air-charter service was not licensed to conduct scheduled operations at airports. The district court found that the sons were entitled to the $1 million. J.C. Penney Life appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Rosenn, J.)

Concurrence (McKee, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 781,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 781,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 781,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,200 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Aviation Law

Key Terms