Force Majeure Clause To Not Apply For COVID-19 Death Claims, Says Life Insurance Council

For death claims due to Covid 19 the 'Force Majeure' clause shall not apply clarified Life Insurance Council. The clause typically aims at protecting the performing party (insurers in this case) from consequences of something over which it has no control. This is an exception to what in a regular scenario would amount as a breach of contract.
Some of the force majeure events include natural disasters or Act of God, epidemics, war or war like situations etc.

The assurance from the Life Insurance Council implies that both private as well as public insurance companies are obligated to honour any of the Covid 19 death claims.

For the past few days, information on Force Majeure was doing the rounds mostly on WhatsApp groups as per which only public insurer LIC was to settle death claims on account of Covid 19 and not private insurers. And consequently, individual policyholders approached their respective insurers to get clarification on the same in their insurance agreement.

"The life insurance industry is taking every measure to ensure that the disruption caused to policyholders, by providing them uninterrupted support digitally. It is both for honoring death claims related to COVID-19 or for servicing their policy. All life insurance companies stand by their customers in these difficult times and the customer should not be swayed by misinformation or misrepresentation", S N Bhattacharya, Secretary-General of Life Insurance Council, said.

Life Insurance Council is a regulatory entity responsible for ensuring efficient and smooth functioning of the insurance sector.

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