Church's boiler. Appellee
American Family Mutual Insurance Company ("American Family") provided liability insurance to the Church,
but refused to defend the Church against the Neelys' suit because Walter was an "insured" under the policy and
therefore excluded from coverage. The Neelys then filed suit against American Family seeking to enforce the
Church's liability insurance policy. A jury
determined that Walter, as an executive officer and director of the Church, was excluded from coverage under
the policy, but that the doctrine of promissory estoppel nonetheless subjected American Family to liability.
American Family filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(b), which the
district court1 granted. See Neely v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., 930 F. Supp. 360, 375 (N.D. Iowa 1996).
The district court also denied the Neelys' requestfor a new trial. See id. at 377. The Neelys2 appeal the district
court's decision, and we affirm.


I.      BACKGROUND

         Walter and Loretta Neely were pastors of the Church. Walter claims that he stepped down from his
position as Church president in March of 1990. However, in a letter dated February 13, 1991, Walter informed
the Church’s Board of Directors that he wished to stop receiving a salary, but he did not intend to stop serving
as the Senior Pastor of the Church. The letter stated that “[t]his is in no way a letter of my resignation from being
the Senior Pastor and Chairman of this local body. . . . I will still hold the offices of Senior Pastor and
Chairperson