AN INSURANCE CLAIM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18867, 21 May 1923, Page 9

AN INSURANCE CLAIM.

MISUNDERSTANDING CLEARED ' UP. (Per United Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 19. The conduct, of an insurance company which endeavoured to settle for £2 18s Id a claim by a lad who had lost part of a thumb as the result of an accident was the subject of comment in a case recently heard by the Arbitration Court. The matter was referred to by Mr Justice Frazer at the commencement of the proceedings at the Arbitration Court this- morning. His Honor stated that the solicitor for the company had offered an explanation of the circumstances which his Honor had- accepted. The explanation was to the effect that the wording of the original report of the accident submitted to the insurance company by the lad’s employer led the company to believe that he had merely sliced off the ton of his thumb. Hearing that the lad had returned to work a few weeks later, and assuming that there was no permanent injury, the company made no further inquiries, and offered to settle the claim on the basis of a payment of 55 per cent, of the wages lost during the period of incapability. When the company ascertained that the lad had sustained a permanent injury it admitted its liability, and but for the misunderstanding as to the case having been fixed for hearing at the present sittings it would have settled the matter out of court.