Aaron Prince v. United States Life Insurance Company City New York

Memorandum by the Court. Judgment affirmed, with $50 costs to respondent. The defendant's policy is written to cover loss ""resulting from injury or sickness"", with ""injury"" defined as meaning an ""accidental bodily injury"" and with ""sickness"" defined as ""sickness or disease"". The medical expense for which plaintiff has recovered judgment was a ""covered expense"" arising from an ""accidental bodily injury"" and not arising from ""sickness or disease"". The undisputed medical testimony was that the expense for physician's services was incurred in treating a psychoneurotic reaction resulting from ""a traumatic injury"". The defendant's claimed exemption from liability under the policy rests solely upon the effect of an exception clause excluding coverage for ""mental disease or deficiencies, psychotic or psychoneurotic disorders or reactions"". But the plaintiff's expert testified that the psychoneurotic reaction arising from the injury was not a ""mental disease or deficiency"". For the reasons more fully developed in the opinion at Special Term, we conclude that