Court of First Instance, 25 May 2017: Litigation concerning insurance premiums and fraudulent acts
Facts
A broker signed a collaboration agreement with an agent for the underwriting of motor insurance policies. It used a second broker, who was responsible for collecting the premium.
A loss occurred shortly thereafter, but the premium was not actually transferred to the insurer until after the damage had taken place. The insurance company compensated the victim for the loss, and then sued its agent, asking that it pay an amount equal to the compensation paid to the victim. After the agent paid this amount, the agent sued the first broker, requesting that it be paid an amount equal to that reimbursed to the insurer. The first broker in turn sued the second broker it had used, who had handled the transaction.
Decision
The Court held the two brokers liable. It found that the first broker was liable to the agent because it was responsible for arranging the insurance policies. It then held that the second broker was liable to the first because it had collected the premium and transferred it late.
CGPA comments
In this decision, the Court found that the insurer had sustained a loss equal to the amount of the claim because of the late payment of the premium. According to the judges, the insurer sustained an economic loss by compensating the insured in this case. This decision is contrary to another series of Italian cases, which holds that, in such circumstances, the insurer is only entitled to request late-payment interest and not reimbursement for the entire amount of the claim.