Brief Facts

[1] On 25 May 1998 the late Tholan s/o Iyasamy (the insured) signed two proposal forms (Rekod Rayuan pp 207 and 220) to purchase two Classic PA personal accident insurance policies and on 1 June 1998, the insured signed another proposal form (Rekod Rayuan p 232) to purchase a comprehensive PA personal accident insurance policy from the appellant.

[2] The sum insured for accidental death in the three policies issued were RM50,000, RM200,000 and RM30,000 respectively. On 3 June 1999, the sum insured for the first and second policies were increased from RM50,000 to RM100,000 and from RM200,000 to RM300,000 respectively.

[3] In all three proposal forms, the insured had stated his estimated annual income to be RM150,000 and under the column 'Occupation' he had described himself as "a self-employed Managing Proprietor of a business selling and buying oil palm bunches".

[4] The insured passed away on 29 August 1999 at about 8.50am in his house.

[5] The respondent was named as the beneficiary in the third policy only.

[6] On 14 September 2000, the appellant declined the respondent's claim on the three policies on the ground that the cause of death of the deceased wa