Millennium Insurance sued over insurance claim

A business woman has dragged an insurance company, Millennium Insurance Company Limited, to court for allegedly refusing to pay her insurance claims.

It is the case of Mrs Akosua Sarpong Ayisa that the insurance company has decided not to pay for the stock in her warehouse which got burnt although she had signed onto a fire insurance policy offered by the company.

In her writ filed at the Commercial Division of the Accra High Court by her counsel, Mr Gary Nimako Marfo, the businesswoman averred that Millennium Insurance had agreed to pay for the cost of renovation of the warehouse only which is against the tenets of the insurance policy that she subscribed to.

Reliefs

Mrs Ayisa is suing to recover the sum of GH¢491,415 being the total cost of the stock in the shop.

She also seeks recovery of GH¢169, 672.20 which is the amount Millennium Insurance has agreed to pay for the renovation of the damaged building.

She is further seeking costs including legal fees.

Fire outbreak

Mrs Ayisa, who deals in floral goods, avers in her statement of claim that officers of Millennium Insurance Company convinced her to sign onto a fire insurance policy for five of her properties, including a residential accommodation, a shop and a warehouse.

The statement of claim explained that parts of the warehouse, located at Tse Ado near the Trade Fair Centre in Accra, got destroyed by fire on January 8, 2019.

The fire, the statement of claim added, led to parts of the building getting destroyed as well as office equipment, stock of floral products, generator and machinery, among other items.

She averred that officers of Millennium Insurance visited the damaged property on four occasions and also sent an insurance assessor to assess the extent of the destruction.

“On February 23, 2019, the defendant’s officers came to cart away some stock, including some that were partially destroyed and some that were whole all valued at GH¢419, 415,” the statement of claim stated.

Refusal to pay

It is the case of Mrs Ayisa that Millennium Insurance wrote to her on March 29, 2019 stating that it was only liable to pay for the cost of renovation of the damaged building estimated at GH¢169,657.20 and would not pay for the cost of stock destroyed because it was not covered by the insurance policy.

“The defendant insisted to the plaintiff that indeed the building and the stock were insured and it was for that reason that she did not raise any protest or objection when the officers working for the defendant took away her stock of goods,” the statement of claim said.

The plaintiff explained that on April 16, 2019, her lawyers wrote to Millennium Insurance, per her instruction, to demand full payment for her stock of goods, but the company denied liability and insisted on paying for renovation of the building only.