NO. Matino is not correct in denying the claim. An insurance company cannot deny a claim by the owner of a motor vehicle who insured it against loss or damage because the driver he employed stole it. Matino cannot invoke the provision excluding malicious damages caused by a person in the service of the insured. In common ordinary usage, loss means failure to keep possession, while malicious damage is damage resulting from the willful act of the driver. Words which have different meanings shall be understood in the sense which is most in keeping with the nature and object of the insurance contract. If a stipulation admits several meanings, it should be understood as bearing the meaning which is most adequate to render it effectual. It may be shown that the words have a local, technical or peculiar meaning and were so used and understood by the parties.
Insurable interest is that interest which a person is deemed to have in the subject matter of the insured where he has a relation or connection to it such that the person will derive pecuniary benefit or advantage from the preservation of the subject matter or will suffer pecuniary loss or damage from its destruction, termination or injury by the happening of the event insured against it.
YES. Seth and Sean have separate insurable interests. Seth’s insurable interest is his legal and and/or equitable interest over the vehicle as an owner while Sean’s insurable interest is the safety of the vehicle which may become the basis of liability in case of loss or damage to the vehicle. (Malayan Insurance vs. Philippine First Insurance Co., 676 SCRA 268)
1. In property insurance, the expectation of benefit must have a legal basis. In life insurance, the expectation of benefit to be derived from the continued existence of a life need not have any legal basis.
2. In property insurance, the actual value of the interest therein is the limit of the insurance that can validly be placed thereon. In life insurance, there is no limit to the amount of insurance that may be taken upon life.
3. In property insurance, an interest in the insured must exist when the insurance takes effect and when the loss occurs but need not exist in the meantime. In life insurance, it is enough that insurable interest exists at the time when the contract is made but it need not exist at the time of loss.
In life/health
The insurer is not obliged to pay. Friendship alone is not the insurable interest contemplated in life insurance. Insurable interest in the life of others (other than one’s own life, spouses or children) is merely to the extent of the pecuniary interest in that life.
Assuming that such pecuniary interest exists, an insurer would be liable despite concealment or misrepresentation if the insurance had been in effect for more than 2 years (incontestability clause).
YES, the father, who is a beneficiary under the accident insurance, can successfully claim indemnity for the death of the insured. Clearly, the proximate cause of the death was the boxing contest. Death is sustained in a boxing contest is an accident.
YES. Carlo can claim the insurance benefit. If a person insures the life or health of another person with himself as beneficiary, all his rights, title and interests in the policy shall automatically vest in the person insured. Carlo, as the husband of Bianca, has an insurable interest in the life of the latter. Also, every person has an insurable interest in the life and health of any person on whom he depends wholly or in part for support. The insurable interest in the life of the person insured must exist when the insurance takes effect but need not exist when the loss occurs. Thus, the subsequent knowledge of Carlo, upon the death of Bianca, that the latter is a transgender does not destroy his insurable interest on the life of the insured.
Insurable interest in property is every interest in property, whether real or personal, or any relation thereto, or liability in respect thereof, of such nature that a contemplated peril might indirectly damnify the insured. It may consist of an existing interest, an inchoate interest founded on an existing interest, or an expectancy coupled with an existing interest in that out of which the expectancy arises. (Sections 13 and 14, Insurance Code)
