In Brief
A man obtained home loan insurance covering death by accident. While working in Mozambique, he contracted encephalitis malaria from a mosquito bite and died. His heirs claimed the insurance. Lower consumer courts and the National Consumer Commission held the death was accidental. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that a disease contracted in the natural course of events—especially in a malaria-endemic region where one in three people is affected—cannot be classified as an 'accident' under insurance law. An accident must be unexpected and unforeseen in the normal course of human events, whereas malaria transmission in such regions is a foreseeable natural occurrence.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.