De Soysa v. The Prudential Assurance Company Limited – sllr 1987 volume 2 page 210

In the case between the estate of Sylvester de Soysa (Plaintiff) and The Presidential Assurance Company Limited (Defendant), the court examined the construction of an insurance policy’s exception clause concerning whether a death “directly or indirectly occasioned or accelerated” by mental infirmity fell within the exclusion. It was held that the defendant, relying on this clause to deny the double-accident benefit, did not discharge the burden of proof to demonstrate that the insured’s mental infirmity was the proximate cause of death. The doctrine of proximate cause was reaffirmed as central to interpreting such policy exclusions. Reference was made to precedents such as Winspear v. Accident Insurance Co. Ltd. and Lawrence v. The Accident Insurance Co. Ltd., with the appellate decision e