Discovery Life has filed for leave to appeal against the High Court judgment ordering the insurer to pay more than R25 million to a man deemed unable to work as a stockbroker after he suffered a mental breakdown.
The reasons the court decided in favour of the man are set out in our article “Discovery must pay R25m to ex-stockbroker who suffered mental breakdown”.
Discovery Life said it believed the judgment, which was handed down on 31 March, could potentially have far-reaching implications for the life insurance industry.
“The judgment instructed Discovery Life to pay the claimant in respect of his permanent disability claim even though it was not possible to determine the permanency of his disability at the time of his claim (in fact, not even until three years after the policy had lapsed).
“The implication of this is that insurers are liable to pay insurance claims when claimants only qualify for the conditions covered under the policy a significant amount of time after the policy has lapsed. This could impact premiums for disability and severe illness cover, as well as the insurability of certain conditions across the industry,” Discovery Life said.
A date for leave-to-appeal hearing has yet to be set.
Mr PWR doesn’t know what trauma is..the real trauma lies with Lee – Ann Palmarozza’s family and daughter..up to today we have not heard from PWR since “we believe” our daughter was murdered..pls investigate RWR background Discovery South Africa. Sueing everybody has always been one of PWR hobbies “as my daughter told me”.