The seminar was held at 10.30 pm on 13/1/2023 Friday at Mar Gregorios Law college, Nalanchira, Trivandrum. The main speaker was Sri. George E, thomas, Professor, college of Insurance, III, Mumbai. Students of Law college, Sri.Thomaskutty P.G, Asst. Principal of the college, members of the Mnagement Committee of Trivandrum Insurance Institute were also present.
The welcome address was delivered by Sri. Anoop, Secretary of Trivandrum Insurance Institute. He spoke of how relevant insurance awareness is in a stage where only uncertainty is certain. Insurance studies have a wide range of research possibilities for law students and knowledge about insurance will stand them in good stead when they start careers in law. He welcomed Sri. Premkumar,S.D.M, LIC of India,Chairman of the Institute, Sri. Thomaskutty P.G, Vice Principal of Mar Gregorios Law college, Sri. George E Thomas, Professor, College of Insurance, Mumbai Sri, R Narayanan, practicing lawyer and all who have assembled to listen to the speakers.
Sri, Premkumar spoke of how insurance is he most relevant subject of today and how insurance business which started with the sharing of risks by merchant ships has grown into an industry with both public sector and private sector players. He defined insurance as the pooling of risks for the minimization of loss. The yardstick for growth of insurance sector in a country is the insurance penetration rate which is only 4.2% in India compared to 11.4% in USA. India, being the second most populous country has a large scope for growth. Insurance is a contract enforceable by law for a valid consideration. Therefore, where ever there is a breach of contract, there is scope for litigation. That is where lawyers step in. There are a large number of regulations like the Insurance Act, Income Tax Act, Contract Act, Evidence Act, Ombudsman Act etc which are relevant to insurance. Awareness of laws related to Insurance is important for lawyers because of the large volume of litigation associated with insurance contracts and regulations. He said that therefore the seminar will be a useful introduction to insurance for young lawyers. He then declared the session open. Sri, Premkumar then handed over a cheque of Rs.3000/- from the Trivandrum Insurance Institute being a scholarship for the student who secures highest marks in the subject Corporate Accounting , of Mar Gregorios Law college for the year 2023, to Dr. Thomaskutty.
Dr. P. G Thomaskutty, vice Principal of the college offered his felicitations for the seminar and said that it is only a beginning for future training programmes and add on courses for students. He thanked the Trivandrum Insurance Institute for contributing towards the scholarship for best outgoing student of the college.
The main agenda of the seminar began with Dr. George Thomas’s session in which he started addressing the students outlining the causes of dispute in day to day life itself. The causes of most disputes in day to day life as well as in the insurance sector is a promise being broken. Most often the root cause of dispute is the way it is communicated which results in misinterpretation due to perceived meaning of the promise or the contract. That is also the problem of insurance contracts. They are subject to interpretation in spite of being framed verbatim and meticulously. He kept the students enthused by a number of simple light hearted examples of misinterpretation of statements due to individual perceptions of persons or groups to which they are presented.
Such misinterpretations due to perception happen in the field of insurance also, Insurance companies through their actuaries predict the probability of an event happening to the insured person, but often there are confusions in understanding the probability. There are three whettings of a contract by the CEO of the insurance company, by the actuary and by a legal practitioner who ensures that the wordings of the contract are clear and not subject to misinterpretation. Therefore legal drafting professionals who are skilled in drafting contracts are appointed in both life and general insurance companies.
Financial credibility is an important factor in giving a promise and fulfilling contractual obligations. Therefore keeping the insurer solvent is important and the regulator ensures that the company is solvent and remains solvent. Ensuring that the companies do not enter into a contract disproportionate to financial capacity is the job of the lawyer.
Reserve building is also very important since the company may have to close down if only predicted events or disasters are financially planned for. For eg. After Kerala floods it was seen that only 8% of affected population was covered. If 100% were covered the company will shut down. Assessment of future liability, reserve building and contract with a reinsurer are also important. If reinsurance is in a country like Nigeria or Uganda where regulations are not strong, the company and insured persons will suffer. Here also the lawyer has a role in supervising regulations of reinsurance.
Insurance concepts and principles like utmost good faith, insurable interest, indemnity, proximate cause and corollaries like subrogation and contribution were explained briefly with examples. Th principle of utmost good faith in insurance contracts itself , contra proferentum and misinterpretations by the insurer and insured also are the results of many controversies and disputes where the lawyer has to step in to mediate and ensure that there is justice in settlement.
Indemnity insurance also is an area where there is vast and growing scope for lawyers as arbitrators to see that justice is served to both insurer and insured. He quoted many case laws especially in the western countries were persons manage to eke out large sums of money using different and seemingly far fetched interpretations of the insurance contract.
To summarise, there is immense scope for academic and career opportunities for a lawyer who has in depth knowledge of the field of insurance and it is worthwhile to take up insurance studies to make use of this vast and rewarding opportunity, The next speaker was Sri, Narayanan who started with the statement that the third person who was created after Adam and Eve was a lawyer. Since law is largely based on interpretation it gives ample scope to the lawyer to interpret the law from the point of view of the consumer to defend his client. He quotes several case laws in some of which he himself was party where the contract could be interpreted in such a way that fair or unfair defenses can be built up for clients. Analysing such cases from an ethical point of view may be a totally different matter, but since the lawyer is paid by his client to defend him law should be interpreted so that utmost support is given to the client. His presentation of the problems encountered during arguing consumer and insurance cases with volunteers from the student audience kept the session very lively and interesting.
What followed was an interesting question and answer session in which the students and staff of the college raised many thought provoking questions regarding insurance and consumer law. The very basic principle of uncertainty of death in life insuance was debated on.
Momentos to the main speakers of the seminar, Dr. George E Thomas and Adv. R, Narayanan were handed over by Kum. Latha I, Council member of the Institute. Sri. ,John P D, Professor of the Mar Gregorios College of Law delivered vote of thanks to the speakersm organisers and participants. The seminar was declared closed at 1.00 p.m.
