Asteron Life cancer payout lawsuit junked by court

Asteron Life cancer payout lawsuit junked by court | Insurance Business New Zealand

Life & Health

Asteron Life cancer payout lawsuit junked by court

Lawyer’s argument presented contradictory ideas

Life & Health

By
Kenneth Araullo

The lawsuit charged against Asteron Life by a Christchurch lawyer who was diagnosed with “terminal illness” a few years prior has been junked by the Court of Appeals.

Hugh Catherwood received a cancer diagnosis in January 2019 which he argued made him “terminally ill,” a situation that will necessitate a $1.2 million payout, regardless of the fact that he is still alive today.

Earlier this June, the senior lawyer took Asteron Life to the Court of Appeals after the High Court ruled in favour of the insurer, who countered that Catherwood’s prognosis during his cancer years was good because of available treatments, meaning that it was not terminal.

A report from the RNZ said that the courts’ decisions rested on the meaning of “terminally ill” as having a life expectancy of 12 months or less “due to sickness and regardless of any available treatment.” Catherwood argued the exact meaning of “regardless of” and escalated his complaints with the insurer, which resulted in the lawsuit and everything else that transpired.

In its ruling, the Court of Appeals said that it agreed with the High Court judge regarding the idea that an insured can be described as terminally ill and claim an accelerated death benefit, and the idea that there is a cure available and the insured is likely to survive, are contradictory.

“An interpretation which permitted that result could result in the payment of the death benefit to someone who is alive, in good health, and with no adverse health conditions likely to result in his or her death… An insured could be paid out the death benefit, take out another life insurance policy, ultimately die and be paid out a death benefit twice in respect of different events, only one of them being death. To us, this makes little sense,” the ruling said.