Harrison v Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Limited and Anor [2015] NSWSC 1665

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Harrison v Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Limited and Anor [2015] NSWSC 1665 Hearing dates: 23 June 2015 Decision date: 10 November 2015 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Lindsay J Decision: The plaintiff is entitled to recover a Total and Permanent Disablement (TPD) Benefit under a group policy of insurance issued by the second defendant (as insurer) to the first defendant, as trustee, for the benefit of members of a fund. Catchwords: CONTRACTS - General contractual principles - Construction and interpretation of contracts -Proper construction and application of insurance policy – Construction of the term "total and permanent disablement" - Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) s 54 INSURANCE - General - Policies of insurance – Group policy insurance - Proper construction of policy – Claim for total and permanent disablement benefit for an insured member SUPERANNUATION - Benefits - Matters affecting entitlement to and payment of – Group policy insurance – Construction of policy – Date of occurrence of totally and permanently disabled Legislation Cited: Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) ss 14 and 54 Cases Cited: Embleton Motor Co Pty Limited v St Kilda Beach Taxi School and Staffing Pty Limited [2014] WASCA 183 at [46] Gramophone Co Limited v Magazine Holder Co (1911) 28 RPC 221 at 225 Termijtelen v Van Arkel [1974] 1 NSWLR 525 at 527A-B, 529F, 530B-F and 534F-535A Texts Cited: - Category: Principal judgment Parties: Plaintiff: Ronald Harrison First Defendant: Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Limited ABN 62 653 671 394 Second Defendant: The Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited trading as Comminsure ABN 12 004 021 809 Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: G Beauchamp First Defendant: M Gollan (Submitting appearance) Second Defendant: P Reynolds