In October 2024, the Constitutional Court found that a claim by the now deceased person for reinstatement of her medical scheme membership which had been cancelled for non-disclosure could be transmitted to her estate.
Her claim was for the medical scheme to honour its contractual commitments. If upheld, the claim had a direct financial interest for the claimant, namely payment of her medical claims by the medical scheme. The court found that the claim was transmissible because there was a financial benefit to the estate. If the claimant had only claimed reinstatement of herself as a member with no attempt to recover unpaid claims, the proceedings would have been purely personal in nature and would have died with her. Where, however, the claim was for reimbursement of medical expenses pursuant to a wrongful termination of membership – which has a financial component – the claim was transmissible. The estate had a financial interest in the outcome of the proceedings and the executor was substituted as the plaintiff.