Iscflul.9.2.17

https://doi.org/10.22364/iscflul.9.2.17 | 196-206 | PDF

Olavi-Juri Luik, PhD
Law Firm WIDEN, attorney at law, internal lecturer (insurance law) University of Tartu, Estonia

Janno Lahe, PhD
University of Tartu, Professor of tort law, Estonia

Granting Direct Claim Rights in Voluntary Liability Insurance to the Aggrieved Person in Estonian Insurance Practice: Via Insurance Contract Vs Claim Assignment

Key words: actio directa, obligatory and voluntary liability insurance, claim assignment

Summary
In the Estonian Law of Obligations Act (LOA), the right of direct claim (actio directa) is guaranteed only if there is any obligatory liability insurance. In the case of voluntary liability insurance, the injured party has no direct claim against the insurer. In Estonian legal practice, the absence of a direct claim has been solved in two main ways: a) the policyholder and the insurer grant a direct claim to the injured party on the basis of an agreement between them, and b) by assignment of the claim. Both ways involve problems. Therefore, the article examines, inter alia, the pros and cons of a direct claim under the law.

The current paper has been published in the second collection of research papers in conjunction with the 9^th International Scientific Conference of the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia “Revisiting the Limits of Freedom While Living Under Threat. II”, 9–10 November 2023. Riga: University of Latvia Press, 2024. 232 pages.