Insurance company ordered to pay €269,743.77 interest on delayed compensation payment

The Civil Court has ordered Citadel Insurance to pay the Malta Stock Exchange €269,743.77 being the interest at 8% per annum on €233,000 paid by the insurance company in 2007 following the death by drowning of MSE chairman Alfred Camilleri in November 1992. Mr Camilleri had been travelling on business in Brazil and had been covered by an insurance policy for accidental bodily injury and medical expenses. Payment of the €233,000 was made in May 2007 after a court case and an appeal, which the MSE both won. The MSE then requested payment of interest on the sum from 18 May 1992 to May 8, 2007 on the basis that the compensation was not paid on time. Mr Justice Zammit McKeon explained that this case was based upon delays in payment by the insurance company. The law provided that the damages which were due to a person who had been deprived of the use of his or her money consisted in interest at eight per cent per annum. The court had therefore to establish whether the delay in effecting payment on the part of Citadel Insurance was justified or otherwise. On its part Citadel Insurance had contested a 1993 court case filed by the MSE and the heirs on the basis that...