It's the final frontier. Many a hapless investor has boldly come here, seeking respite. Some find closure, others crawl out disappointed, but virtually all are branded by the verdict. We refer to the Indian courts, which are deluged by a daunting number of cases every year. The spectrum is as staggering, with a large percentage falling in the realm of personal finance, be it the house an heir is battling his kin for possession (real estate), a claim that an insurer refuses to settle (insurance), or the loan that the guarantor is to pay (banking). Even as these cases impact people's finances, some leave purging precedents, expanding the scope of an argument, lending clarity to an obfuscating rule, plugging loopholes, or giving direction to a nebulous circumstance. Over the years, such rulings have altered the financial fates of thousands of appellants, guiding them in the course of action or bolstering their cases for having cited them.
The awareness about earlier rulings can clearly be crucial to the legal outcome since these can help strengthen the argument and prepare the case in a better manner. "Depending on the previous judgements, people decide whether to fight it out or opt for an out-of-court settlement as lawyers can make out which way the case is likely to go," says Sandeep Nerlekar, CEO, Warmond Trustees & Executors.

1) An insurer must prove fraud to reject a claim
Kerala-based PV Suresh's wife Lalitha had taken a life insurance policy from LIC for Rs 50,000 on 28 February 2002. However, when she died on 9 September 2004 due to cervical cancer, the claim was rejected on the ground that she had failed to mention ayurvedic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis before buying the policy.
It has to prove that the information that was supposedly hidden by the policyholder was material, that is, had a direct bearing to the case and that there was an