Time-Bars & Policy Protection Rules

This article was originally published by executiveview.com

In 2007, the South African Constitutional Court put to an end the long debate about the constitutionality of contractual policy provisions which provide that where the insurer rejects liability for any claim made under the policy, the insurer is released from liability unless summons is served within a limited period of the rejection.

The access to courts provision of the Constitution provides that everyone has a right to have any dispute resolved by the application of law decided (section 34) in a fair public hearing before a court or, where appropriate, another independent and impartial tribunal. In Barkhuizen v Napier, 2007 (5) SA 323 (CC) the insured had argued that a 90 day time-bar clause unlawfully deprived him of his right to seek redress in the Courts, that the time-bar provided no useful or legitimate purpose and was contrary to public interest since the 90 day period was unreasonably short. The