Hongya County Court of Sichuan Province:

After the intentional accident is reasonably excluded, the insurance company shall pay compensation according to the contract.

Mr. Hua mistakenly used the accelerator as a brake during reversing and accidentally killed his wife. The couple's son was in trouble for compensation and sued his father and the insurance company to the court. Recently, the People's Court of Hongya County, Sichuan Province tried a special case of traffic accident liability dispute, and the court awarded the insurance company compensation of more than 950,000 yuan.

On August 10, 2022, when Mr. Hua reversed the car at the dam, he asked his wife to get off to help observe the road. As a result, he mistakenly used the throttle as a brake and ran into his wife standing on the road, causing her death. After the accident, the traffic police brigade issued an accident certificate, which determined that Mr. Hua was fully responsible for the accident. In September, the Public Security Bureau of Hongya County, Sichuan Province transferred Mr. Hua to the county procuratorate for examination and prosecution for the crime of traffic accident, and the county procuratorate made a decision not to prosecute according to law.

The vehicle driven by Mr. Hua bought compulsory insurance and commercial insurance in an insurance company. After the accident, Mr. Hua's son Xiaohua claimed compensation from the insurance company, but the process was not smooth, so he sued his father Mr. Hua and the insurance company to the court and claimed more than 950 thousand yuan.

The court found through trial that there are two main reasons for the insurance company's refusal to pay compensation in the early stage. On the one hand, it is believed that the terms of the insurance contract stipulate that traffic accidents caused by close relatives will not be compensated; On the other hand, it is believed that the case cannot rule out the case that the driver intentionally killed the deceased.

In the trial of the case, the court focused on the relationship between the deceased and the driver, the investigation by the public security organs in the early stage and the cause of the accident, and determined that the accident was negligent, excluding the possibility that the driver deliberately killed the deceased.

In addition, in view of the problem that the insurance company does not pay compensation for traffic accidents caused by the contract between close relatives proposed by the insurance company in the early settlement. The court held that the insurance contract is a standard clause, and the above-mentioned clause is of great interest to the insured. As a party providing the standard clause, the insurance company did not take reasonable measures to remind the insured when concluding the contract, and the insured can claim that the clause does not become the content of the contract.

Based on this, the court ruled that the insurance company paid the death compensation of the deceased son more than 950,000 yuan. After the judgment of the case, neither party appealed, and the judgment has come into effect.

Judge's statement

Article 43 of the Insurance Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that if the insured intentionally causes the death, disability or illness of the insured, the insurer shall not be liable for the payment of insurance benefits. If the beneficiary intentionally causes the death, disability or illness of the insured, or intentionally kills the insured, the beneficiary loses the right to benefit. This legal provision is made to prevent the insured from deliberately creating an insurance accident in order to obtain insurance money. However, after the accident, the insurance company should still pay compensation according to the insurance contract if this situation can be reasonably ruled out.

The article was transferred from the Supreme People's Court Judicial Case Research Institute.