Insurer ordered to pay claim to murder victim's relatives

An insurance company was ordered to pay 300,000 yuan ($48,267) to the next of kin of a policy holder who was murdered by his wife, a district court said Friday.

The policy holder was killed in August 2006 while he and his wife were going through a messy divorce, according a press release from the Shanghai Huangpu District People's Court. His wife was later sent to prison.

The policy holder's son, whom the court identified as Jun Jun, applied for a claim in 2011 after learning about the insurance policy from his aunt, the court said. The insurer rejected the claim on the grounds that it should have been filed within two years of the policy holder's death. The company also argued that the claim was problematic because the holder was killed by one of his beneficiaries. Jun Jun and his grandmother later sued the insurance company for failing to pay the claim.

The court determined that the plaintiffs had the right to file the claim late because they didn't know the policy existed until 2011. It also refuted the insurance company's other argument, saying that the policy holder never appointed a beneficiary, and, as his next of kin, the plaintiffs were entitled to be compensated.