Not upheld: Home insurance claim disputes complaint against Assurant General Insurance Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr C claimed on his mobile phone insurance policy after losing his phone during a night out where he had consumed a significant amount of alcohol. AGI declined the claim based on the reasonable care exclusion in the policy, citing Mr C's intoxication and impaired ability to safeguard the device. Mr C complained that there was no explicit exclusion for intoxication and that he had kept the phone in his pocket. The ombudsman found that while it was reasonable for Mr C to carry his phone while socialising, his heavy intoxication impaired his judgment and ability to protect it, particularly as the phone had been removed from his pocket while he was intoxicated. The ombudsman upheld AGI's decision to decline the claim as falling fairly within the policy's reasonable care exclusion.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that AGI had made it reasonably clear in the policy terms that they could decline a claim if a customer had not taken reasonable care of their phone. While the ombudsman agreed it was reasonable for Mr C to carry his phone while socialising, the claim was declined not based on storage but on Mr C's state of intoxication at the time of loss. The ombudsman concluded that Mr C's heavy intoxication impaired his judgment and ability to protect the phone, creating additional risk, which fell within the policy's reasonable care exclusion.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website