The High Court has dismissed a claim by Georgina Saunders against Irish Life Assurance plc over a joint life policy taken out in 2008 with the late Eamonn Dunne.
Mr Justice Tony O’Connor found that Mr Dunne was obliged to disclose his past drug and alcohol abuse and treatment for depression when applying for the policy. The court also rejected the argument that Irish Life had been culpably indolent in processing the application or dealing with the claim.
The policy application was completed online at a Permanent TSB branch on 4 April 2008. Ms Saunders told the court she could not recall much of what she had been asked. At trial, she suggested the bank official may not have put specific questions about drug use and treatment for mental or nervous disorders to Mr Dunne. The judge found, on the balance of probabilities, that the speed of the application did not cause Mr Dunne to confirm incorrect answers.
The judgment said the signed declaration required the applicants to give complete and true answers and to notify Irish Life of changes before cover began. A letter sent with policy documents asked them to review the answers to the health questions. The court was satisfied the letter was made available to them before monthly payments began.
Mr Dunne was shot dead in April 2010. After receiving a claim, Irish Life sought medical records relating to treatment between 2001 and 2005. The insurer declined the claim, saying the history of drug use and alcohol abuse, together with depression, would have prevented it from offering cover. Its head of underwriting testified that depression alone would not have ruled out a policy, but the combined history would have done so. The judge found that disclosure would at least have led to a request for medical records and that Irish Life would not have offered cover on Mr Dunne’s life at that time.
The court found that Mr Dunne had not been honest when giving or confirming the questionnaire answers. It was not persuaded that the insurer had failed to make inquiries it should have made. The judgment did not rely on allegations raised in questions to Ms Saunders about threats to Mr Dunne or precautions he may have taken, as no evidence was heard about their accuracy.
The court dismissed Ms Saunders’s claim, which had been commenced by plenary summons issued on 14 April 2015.