A man who suffered from severe mental illness andkilled his wife was permitted by a Superior Court in Canada to collect her lifeinsurance policy. In 2006, a trial court found Ved Dhingra not criminallyresponsible for his wife’s murder due to his mental disorder. Moreover, thecourt held there was no evidence that the policy had anything to do with themurder. The Attorney General’s application for the court to apply the CivilRemedies Act was denied. The purpose of this act is to pay damages to victimsof crime and disallow criminals from benefiting from their criminal actions.Additionally, the act does not provide an exception for a mentally ill person. Accordingto Ottawacitizen.com, the decision is being reviewed and is within the 30-dayappeal time frame.
See Diana Mehta, Court Tosses Ontario’s Claim To Life Insurance Payout For Insane Wife Killer, OttawaCitizen.com, Mar. 27, 2013.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
