The Supreme Court refused Damien Murphy leave to appeal in a determination delivered on 26 September 2016. He was seeking to challenge a Court of Appeal judgment in his income protection claim against Canada Life Assurance (Ireland) Limited, also named as Irish Life Assurance PLC.
Mr Murphy took out the policy on 22 May 2002 and worked as a taxi driver until a road traffic accident in 2010 stopped him working. Payments began, but the insurer stopped them on 6 September 2011, saying he no longer met the policy's definition of physical health. The Financial Services Ombudsman rejected his complaint on 11 June 2012, and he did not appeal that decision to the High Court.
He then sued for breach of contract. The High Court struck out the case on 30 July 2015 and the Court of Appeal (Irvine, Hogan and Mahon JJ.) upheld that on 4 May 2016. Both said the Ombudsman's decision was binding, so he could not bring the same matter again in separate proceedings.
The Supreme Court said the statutory scheme was clear and the Court of Appeal had addressed the issue clearly. It added that a constitutional challenge Mr Murphy wished to raise had not been an issue in the proceedings. The application did not meet the constitutional criteria, so leave was refused.