Accident

ya, death caused by dog bite can be treated as accidental death in insurance cases.

A Gujarat High Court division bench of Justice RK Abichandani and Justice CK Buch has held that death caused by dog bite can be said to be caused by an accident, and the insurance company is liable to pay an additional sum equal to the sum insured under accident benefit clause of the policy. The details of the case are thus. Ambalal M Panchal had taken two policies of Rs 50,000 each for his son Vikram on February 1, 1989 and March 28, 1989. The policies contained an accident benefit clause, under which the insurance company was to pay an additional sum equal to the sum insured if death was caused by an accident. According to Panchal, Vikram was bitten by a rabid dog on April 18, 1989, for which he was hospitalised. However, he died during treatment on April 29, 1989. Panchal then put up a claim with the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, but it was rejected. Then Panchal filed a suit claiming Rs 2 lakh under the policies,Rs 54,000 as interest, and Rs 2,500 for expenses incurred by him. The trial court had held that Vikram had died due to respiratory failure resulting from rabies, and that death was not suicidal as contended by the LIC. But the trial court found that ingredients of accident benefit clause were not established because the injury and the resultant death caused by dog bite cannot be said to have been caused by an accident. The trial court held that appellant was not entitled to recover the additional sum payable under the accident benefit clause. Counsel for Panchal submitted to the High Court that the meaning of the word `accident' was wide enough to include mishaps like dog bite and death caused by it. However, counsel for LIC submitted that any occurrence which is expected to happen cannot termed as an accident. What can be avoided by proper care and caution cannot be termed as an accident, he argued. A person should make an effort to avoid a mishap and should act with reasonable diligence to ensure thathe does not put himself in danger of an accident, it was submitted. However the court observed, ``When an unexpected injury occurs then it can be termed as an accident, but that does not mean that whenever any injury is expected, it could never be an accident.'' ``One can always expect animals to bite or gore, but when a person is himself bitten or gored by an animal, that would be an unexpected harm to that person,'' the court ruled. A dog bite is surely something outward and violent by which harm was brought about. The resulting death was due to accident caused by outward, violent, and visible means within the meaning of accident benefit clause of the policy, the court ruled.

In countires like USA, there is separate policy for dog-bites. See the link below for statistics https://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html

yes, it will be treated as accidental death, and u can avail accidental benefit facility