Killer's action for insurance payout can go ahead

Burning of house while insane is an "accident" under insurance law, says court

News, 18 August 2005

A man has won the right to proceed with a court action against his insurers for the costs of rebuilding his home after he burned it down to conceal his having killed his mother.

Lord Clarke in the Court of Session allowed proof to be heard in the action by Ewen Howie against insurers CGU (formerly General Accident), rejecting the defenders' argument that the terms of the policy excluded Mr Howie's claim.

Mr Howie killed his mother in February 2001 by hitting her over the head with a chair. He then set fire to their home at Haughs of Ashogle, near Turriff, Aberdeenshire. It was said that he had developed a mental illness on the day of the killing, having not previously shown any symptoms. He was acquitted of murder by reason of insanity and detained in the State Hospital at Carstairs.

CGU claimed the fire-raising was deliberate and that if Howie was insane, then he was not capable of performing his obligations under the insurance contract, in particular condition 3 which required the insured to maintain his property in a good state of repair and "take all reasonable steps to prevent injury, loss or damage". This made the contract invalid.

Lord Clarke ruled that while condition 3 would exclude the claim if Mr Howie had been guilty of reckless conduct prior to his allegedly becoming insane, the law regarded damage carried out by an insured person while insane as an "accident" for the purposes of insurance.

A hearing of evidence will take place at a later date.

Lord Clarke's opinion can be read at http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/2005CSOH110.html .