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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE THE LINCOLN NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff Appellant, v. JOSEPH SCHLANGER 2006 INSURANCE TRUST and FREDDIE JACKOWITZ and ABBE ROBERTS, Individually and as administrators of the ESTATE OF JOSEPH SCHLANGER, Defendants Appellees. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

C.A. No. 178, 2011 Certification of A Question of Law from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware C.A. No. 09-506

Submitted: August 17, 2011 Decided: September 20, 2011 Before STEELE, Chief Justice, HOLLAND, BERGER, JACOBS and RIDGELY, Justices constituting the Court en banc. Question Answered. AFFIRMATIVE. David P. Primack and Joseph C. Schoell of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Wilmington, Delaware. Of Counsel: Charles J. Vinicombe (argued) of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Princeton, New Jersey; Stephen C. Baker, James S. Bainbridge, and Lawrence R. Scheetz, Jr. of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for appellant. John E. James, David E. Moore and Michael B. Rush of Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, Wilmington, Delaware. Of Counsel: John E. Failla (argued), Elise A. Yablonski and Nathan Lander of Proskauer Rose LLP, New York, New York; Lary Alan Rappaport of Proskauer Rose LLP, Los Angeles, California for appellees.

STEELE, Chief Justice:

This is a proceeding, under Article IV, Section 11(8) of the Delaware Constitution and Supreme Court Rule 41, on a question of law certified to, and accepted by us, from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. The certified questions arise from two similar cases--Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. v. Joseph Schlanger 2006 Insurance Trust (Schlanger) and PHL Variable Insurance Co. v. Price Dawe 2006 Insurance Trust (Dawe).1 In both cases, an insurer sought a judicial declaration that a life insurance policy was void as an illegal contract wagering on human life that accordingly lacks an insurable interest. The district court denied both motions to dismiss and certified three questions to the Supreme Court of Delaware concerning the incontestability provision required under 18 Del. C.

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