Insurer Unable To Make Head Or Tail Cow Case

A dairy farmer from Padra, who owns one buffalo and three cows, dragged an insurance company to court as the latter denied her claim for a dead cow. The farmer Dipika Patel’s cow died on July 12 last year due to natural causes.

When Patel filed a claim of Rs 50,000 with United Insurance Company Pvt Ltd, the company, in a bizarre reply, told Patel that as per their record the cow’s tail’s colour is white while in the photo of the carcass it looks black. Patel filed a complaint against the insurer at Vadodara District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum to get the claim amount of Rs 50,000.

During the court proceedings, the insurance company’s lawyer argued that the claim was turned down as per the terms and conditions of the policy because the dead cow did not match with the insured cow.

In response to the insurance company’s arguments, Patel’s lawyer submitted that the postmortem report also mentions that it is the same cow and not a different one. It was also argued that for identifying an animal its colour, shape of its horn among other characteristics are considered, but its real identification can be done by its tag.

The court upheld the argument that the cow’s real identity is its tag. Patel’s insured cow’s tag number was 1626 and the dead cow’s tag number is also the same. The court also closely observed the photo of the carcass and noted that the tail is little bent and due to bad light in the photograph it may look black.

“Insurance companies are statutory bodies and its responsibility is to not reject insured person’s claims by citing irrelevant technical issues. Thus, by rejecting the claim, the insurance company has been deficient in its services,” the court stated.

It asked the insurance company to pay Rs 50,000 to Patel along with 9% interest and pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 for mental harassment and litigation.