ABSTRACT

A Study on Legal Analysis on Payment Obligation of Insurance Compensation
- Focused on Suicide Insurance Compensation-


Jun-Yuop Kim
Department of Intellectual Property Law, Graduate School
Chungnam National University


There have been numerous studies on suicide-related insurance cases; however, a clear answer to the question of whether insurance companies would settle claims made after the exemption period in respect of policyholders whose deaths resulted from suicide has yet to be provided. In this paper, the requirements necessary in order to oblige insurance companies to settle suicide claims made after the exemption period will be clarified.

Insurance companies inserted a clause for suicide indemnity limitation which has been supposed to be only applied to a contract agreement for disaster death accidently. Consequently, disputes over the payment of suicide benefits arose. Suicide indemnity limitations can be categorized into five different types according to the terms and conditions of an insurance policy. Depending on the type of suicide indemnity limitation, the Supreme Court''s rulings have differed. This paper, therefore, examined the controversial issues surrounding the Supreme Court’s verdict in case 2015Da243347 delivered on May 12, 2016. Based on the investigation, this paper suggested compensation requirements for the settlement of insurance claims that concern death resulting from suicide.

An active discussion on improving the statute of limitations for suicide insurance claims is ongoing, and a number of proposals for legislation have been suggested. The period of extinctive prescription, the starting-point of extinctive prescription, and the reasons for interruption were investigated to determine whether the statute of limitations policy for insurance claims needs to be improved. Because the statute of limitations extends beyond rights relating to insurance compensation claims, until a comprehensive review has been undertaken, partial improvements could be implemented concerning the suspension and the stopping of extinctive prescription.

Keywords: suicide insurance compensation, obligation to pay insurance benefits, indemnity clause, insurance compensation for death resulting from suicide, suicide indemnity limitation, extinctive prescription