Income protection claim fails

In Taylor v Asteron Life Ltd [2019] NZHC 978 the High Court (Cooke J) dismissed a claim by an insured, Peter Taylor,  to recover benefits under an income protection policy and upheld the insurer’s claim to recover $371,286.70 in payments made plus interest to be determined.  The Court found that Mr Taylor was not totally disabled because he continued to work after his alleged “sickness”.  The insurer called as witnesses three employees of Mr Taylor who gave evidence about the extent of Mr Taylor’s work that was far greater than what Mr Taylor said.  Documents also contradicted Mr Taylor’s evidence.  The Court also  found that Mr Taylor was not partially disabled either because any sickness/illness did not affect his work and he actually earned more money after the sickness/illness than he did prior.  Mr Taylor also made false statements about work and income that entitled Asteron to avoid/cancel the policy and recover money paid.  The judgment is notable for reference to false duplicate sets of accounts for Mr Taylor’s business.