An appeal filed by a man who had failed to prove that an insurance policy had been falsified was yesterday dismissed by the Court of Appeal composed of Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano, Mr Justice Albert J. Magri and Mr Justice Tonio Mallia.

Jesmond Tonna filed his writ in the First Hall of the Civil Court against Galdes and Mamo Ltd on behalf of Royal International Insurance Holdings Ltd. In 2003, Gasan Mamo Insurance Ltd substituted Galdes and Mamo Ltd.

Mr Tonna told the first court that on June 4, 1999 at 11.50 a.m. he had taken out insurance cover for his water bowser with Victor Cordina, the insurance company's agent. On the same day, at 12.20 p.m., Mr Tonna was involved in a traffic accident in San Gwann. But Mr Tonna told the court that his insurance policy showed he had applied for the insurance cover at 12.50 p.m., which was not the case.

He said this was an abusive action on the part of the insurance company to ensure it would not be bound to honour the cover provided by the insurance policy.

Mr Tonna asked the court to declare that the insurance policy was valid with effect from 11.50 a.m. of June 4, 1999, and to order the insurance company to honour its obligations towards him.

However, Mr Tonna's writ was dismissed by the Civil Court which found that he had obtained the insurance cover after he was involved in a traffic accident. Mr Tonna then appealed to the Court of Appeal.

In its judgment, the appellate court heard that on the day in question, Mr Tonna was driving the bowser in San Gwann when the vehicle developed a mechanical fault in its braking system. As a result, the vehicle collided with a number of cars and caused damage to the parapet of a house.

The Court of Appeal heard that Mr Cordina was certain that Mr Tonna had approached him to obtain an insurance policy at 12.50 p.m. on that day. Mr Cordina testified that on that day he had filled in some details of the proposal form, including the time Mr Tonna had arrived, in front of Mr Tonna and that Mr Tonna had signed the form.

An eyewitness, lawyer Claudia Vella, told the court that on the day in question she was at home and at noon she heard what sounded like a collision.

She looked outside and saw that a bowser had hit a number of cars. She went on the scene of the accident and saw Mr Tonna. About 20 minutes later she noticed that Mr Tonna was no longer on site. He was, however, there when the police arrived at about 1 p.m.

There was no doubt, the Court of Appeal noted, that the accident had occurred before Mr Tonna had gone to take out an insurance cover. There was, therefore, no reason to uphold Mr Tonna's appeal and the Court of Appeal confirmed the first court's judgment.