Judge rules insurer to pay woman $.2M

A HIGH Court judge yesterday awarded a woman $200,000 which an insurance company refused to pay on her father’s death because he did not provide a proper medical report of his illness. Justice Amrika Tiwary-Reddy ruled that the deceased man, of Santa Cruz, did not provide a certain medical report simply because the insurance company failed to inform him of the requirement to do so. Justice Tiwary-Reddy ordered British American Insurance Company Ltd to pay Marysia Pereira, of Santa Cruz, $200,000 — the amount on a life insurance policy her father, Lennox Ventour,  took out before he died.  Ventour had three life insurance policies with the company, but in a lawsuit against the company, Pereira contended that the amount to be paid on the third policy in the event of her father’s death, was $100,000 and a further $100,000 in the event that he died by accident.

Ventour, 44, drowned at the Port-of-Spain docks on June 7, 1996. The company contended, however, that it was never able to assess the risk because Ventour never provided his urinalysis medical report. However, plaintiff Pereira countered that the insurance company failed to inform her father of this medical requirement. In her writ, Pereira stated that her father could not be bound by this condition. Pereira was represented by Kevin Rattiram, while Jonathon Walker represented the company. In a 16-page judgment, Justice Tiwary-Reddy found that the company did not offer any explanation at the trial to disprove the plaintiff’s claim. The judge held that Ventour had established a contract with the company.