On Legal Issues Of Life Insurer Liability Exemption

Based on the historical materialistic point of view and through the theoretical and comparative analysis,the article focuses on insurer's liability exemption,which is thought to be too broad,under the circumstances that the policy holder or beneficiary kill or cause harm to the insurant,or the insurant commits a suicide or harms himself. The article also digs deeper into the issue concerning the insurance premium cash value ownership if liability exemptions occur and puts forward its views on legislation on such matters.Through the analysis on the insurance contract intention , the article introduces the doubts of many scholars against the current laws on the insurer liability exemption. Based on the insurance theories and insurance legislation principles,the article discusses in detail about the accident,intentional accident, insurer liabilities and insurer liability exemption which are the essential elements concerning the topic. Author's own opinion on the insurer liability exemption is also illustrated , which deems the following four conditions necessary for legitimizing the insurer liability exemption: the insurant has the ability to predict or evaluate the possibility of the occurrence of the so-called accident;the insurant creates or causes the accident;the insurant has the capacity to avoid or control the risk in the accident;the time of the accident is in the liability exemption period stipulated by the law.Comparative analysis is made on the legislation of liability exemption in different countries and regions. And the author's opinion is elaborated:the insurer has no right of liability of exemption only because the policy holder or the insurant causes the accident to happen;only intentional suicide can legitimate the liability exemption of the insurer;intentional crime which causes the death of the insurer should be clearly defined and if the death is caused by negligence crime,the insurer can not enjoy the right of liability exemption.After discussing the circumstances that invalidate the liability exemption for insurers,the article shifts its focuses to the right to claim the compensation. Regardless of the death causes such as murder and intentional suicide,the insurance compensation should be considered as the heritage of the insurant when there are no other legal beneficiaries,and the insurer should pay the compensation to the legal beneficiaries of the insurant as long as they exist.Based the discussion on liability exemption items,the article illustrates the author's proposals on revising the current laws and regulations,particularly emphasizing on that the interests of all parties of the insurance contract should be clearly defined and the right to claim the compensation.There are many drawbacks of Chinese life insurance laws on the legal consequences of the liability exemption,cash value calculation and the right to claim the compensation. In this regard,the author also puts forward her opinions on insurance premium and the right to claim the cash value,pointing out that whenever the liability exemption exists,the insurance premium and its cash value belong to the policy holder,and the policy hold has the right to claim the money from insurers. If the policy holder dies,the premium and cash value should be regarded as his in heritage.With a through analysis on the defects in the current life insurance laws,such as un-uniform assumptions for calculating cash value of the insurance premiums,vague ownership definition and disposal approaches,the article proposes its solutions to these issues.