Former deputy minister Dr Iyambo Indongo’s daughter is suing Trustco for refusing to pay out a Legal Shield Policy following the death of her father.
Dr Indongo, who was a personal physician of the founding father Sam Nujoma, passed on last year in July in a Grootfontein hospital at the age of 83 due to COVID-19 complications.
His insurance policy with Trustco then lapsed, resulting in his daughter Kino to approach the High Court, seeking an order compelling the company to pay out the funeral benefits within 14 days of the court order, as well as legal fees for the lawsuit instituted.
In her particulars of claim, Kino said despite a clear obligation on Trustco to pay out the benefits, the company refuses and relies on clauses of Legal Shield of the elite policy, which require that the claim be made within 90 days after the death of the insured.
She insists that the limitation clause deprives beneficiaries from benefits otherwise due to them in circumstances where they are not aware that a claim lies or exists and that it enables Trustco to refuse pay-outs that are otherwise due and payable, for its own gain and benefit.
Kino maintains that she only became aware about the existence of the policy on 10 November 2021 after her mother and sister visited Trustco Insurance.
She also says that it was also on that day that she found out that the 90-day period had lapsed.
“On 24 November 2021 per the advise of Trustco Insurance, I requested a reassessment by pointing out the factors and Trustco Insurance’s reassessment committee consisting of its employees, without reasons upheld their original decision to repudiate my claim. Their re-assement was conducted unreasonably and unfairly and their outcome was a foregone conclusion. Trustco Insurance’s refusal to pay out the benefits amounts to an unlawful deprivation of another’s property in violation of Article 16 of the Constitution and at a minimum, unjustified enrichment,” Kino argues.
