Health and accident insurance

What constitutes disability

Health and accident policies operate to confer upon the assured the right to recover an agreed sum in the case of disability. Exactly what constitutes disability within the meaning of the policy may vary from case to case. Some covers state that the assured must no longer be able to carry on his occupation, whereas others provide that the assured must be disabled from carrying on any occupation. There are often problems of interpretation where the assured is, after the accident, able to carry on a more menial occupation than was previously the case. Two decisions of the Court of Appeal, Walton v Airtours plc [2002] EWCA Civ 1659 and Howells v IG Insurance Co Ltd [2003] EWCA Civ 103, illustrate the general judicial approach to this type of issue. It is intended to report both of these cases in [2004] Lloyd’s Rep IR.