The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) is engaged in a gruelling court battle after being ordered to pay a Meru couple, Ksh10 Million.
The national insurer was ordered to pay the couple Ksh10M after their photo was allegedly used for marketing purposes on social media without their consent.
High Court judge Anne Ong'injo awarded Joel Mutuma Kirimi and his wife Sharon Chepkorir Koskei Ksh10M back in February 2020.
In the appeal, NHIF argued that the High Court Judge failed to appreciate that they did not use the images for commercial purposes.
Kirimi and Koskei who are also lawyers were awarded Ksh5M each after NHIF was found guilty of breaching rights to privacy and human dignity by the court after publishing their images in advertisements without their consent.
The couple moved to court after NHIF published their photos on various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for commercial advertisements.
The photos appeared online between February 2018 and April 2018 as NHIF sought to publicize a health insurance scheme (SuperCover).
According to the couple, the photo was obtained from Kirimi's Facebook page without their consent or seek to establish whether they were a couple.
Kirimi and Koskei noted that the use of their picture had damaged their public confidence and affected their career as advocates.
In their defence, NHIF claimed that it did not engage in commercial business, adding that is a government social insurance scheme.
The national fund further stated that it retrieved the image from a right free picture and videos website.
Before the court awarded the couple Ksh10M they had demanded Ksh20M and claimed that the had no knowledge of the picture being uploaded on the right free website.
