Accident victim’s kin win legal battle with insurance company

After a 12-year legal tussle, the family members of a road accident victim will finally be able to claim Rs5 lakh from an insurance company that had refused to pay them after the mishap.

After a 12-year legal tussle, the family members of a road accident victim will finally be able to claim Rs5 lakh from an insurance company that had refused to pay them after the mishap.

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The state consumer commission on Friday held that the insurance company had wrongly repudiated the family’s claim.

As per the family’s complaint, on March 1, 2000, Babaji Bhangare met with an accident while crossing a road in Pune. According to the FIR registered with the local police station, it was a hit and run case. Bhangare was covered under the Group Janata Personal Accident Policy issued by National Insurance Company Ltd, in which insurance for an accident was also covered.

After the accident, the family members filed for the insurance claim, but it was repudiated by the company based on certain terms and conditions. The family members then moved the consumer commission.

Objecting to the complaint, the insurance company alleged that the claim was rejected as per the terms and condition of the policy, copies of which had been provided to the insured person.

However, the family denied having received any such document.

After hearing both sides, the commission concluded that the affidavit filed by the manager of the company did not clearly mention whether the family had been notified about the conditions. The commission further observed that information about the policy was written on reverse of membership certificate, but no mention of the condition — on which repudiation was based — had been made there.

The commission directed the company to pay the claim amount (Rs5 lakh) along with 9% interest per year starting from 2001, the date of the complaint. In addition to this, the commission has asked the company to pay Rs25,000 towards the cost of the litigation.