Life assurers may reclaim Kebble suicide payouts
Publish date: 20 December 2006
Issue Number: 1732
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: Tenders
According to a report in Business Day, life assurers Liberty and Discovery may reclaiming up to R30m paid to the beneficiaries of Brett Kebbles life insurance policies last year if a court accepts the claim that the late mining boss had a hand in his own death.
Such an action would be one of the largest clawback claims yet over a life policy. The former CE of JCI, Randgold & Exploration and Western Areas was killed in September last year. He took out life policies in previous months with Discovery Life worth R20m and with Liberty Life for R10m but both policies had a standard clause excluding any payout in the event of death by own hand within two years. Libertys position underlines that of Discovery Life, which said yesterday that while it was unlikely to claim back the R20m it paid to Kebbles beneficiaries under the suicide exclusion, if an assisted suicide was proven, it would certainly consider claiming back the money through an action for insurance fraud. Life industry insiders said Liberty would be failing its shareholders and policyholders were it not to reclaim the money, if it were proved insurance fraud took place. Full Business Day report
