The High Court has dismissed Justin Harmon’s claim against Irish Life Assurance plc over an insurance policy he said he believed covered depression and anxiety.
In a judgment delivered on 26 October 2018, Ms Justice Creedon found that the policy issued in September 1995 provided life assurance and critical illness cover but did not include permanent total disability cover. The court rejected Mr Harmon’s claims and refused the reliefs he sought.
Mr Harmon argued that he had disclosed his depression when applying through Carroll and Associates and had sought cover for it. He said the insurer’s medical assessment and a 50 per cent premium loading led him to believe that the policy covered depression. He alleged failures including mis-selling, breach of duty and contract, deceit and negligent misstatement. He sought damages and repayment of premiums, among other reliefs.
Irish Life’s position was that the insurer offered life assurance and critical illness cover with a 50 per cent loading, while declining permanent total disability cover. It said the policy documents were sent to the broker and copied to Mr Harmon, who signed an acceptance form. The insurer also said Carroll and Associates acted as Mr Harmon’s independent insurance broker, not as the insurer’s agent.
The judge found that Mr Harmon completed the proposal with advice from Carroll and Associates, which acted solely as his broker. She found that the policy was one insurance contract, rather than a new contract formed each year, and that its terms clearly excluded permanent total disability cover. The judgment records that Mr Harmon later sought to add that cover in 1997, but did not take up the proposal sent to him.
The court also found that the Financial Services Ombudsman’s 2012 rejection of Mr Harmon’s complaint was binding unless appealed to the High Court within 21 days. No such appeal was brought. The judge said the policy predated the plenary summons, issued on 14 February 2012, by almost 16 years, and the 1997 request for additional cover by more than 14 years. She accepted the insurer’s legal arguments, found that it had complied with its duty of utmost good faith, and ruled that the consumer unfair terms regulations did not apply.
The judgment records the policy as having commenced on 7 September 1995, while one passage in its findings refers to a policy dated 7 December 1995. It also describes the 1995 application and Mr Harmon’s later claim concerning depression, while finding that the issued cover did not include permanent total disability. The court’s order was to dismiss the claim; it did not award the reliefs sought.