Accident damage – Мицев, адвокатско друштво

For this case

Driver and passenger accident insurance supplement to an automobile liability insurance policy. When concluding compulsory third party liability insurance, it is not uncommon for most of the vehicles they own to include a surcharge for accident insurance for the driver and passengers in the policy. This is voluntary insurance (the surcharge) for which special insurance conditions apply and in principle it concerns small insurance amounts from 75,000.00 denars to 200,000.00 denars. A special specificity of the case was given by the fact that it was a traffic accident that occurred outside the borders of Macedonia in which three people were seriously injured.

AreaCivil law

Time frame2 years

LawyerAleksandar Stankovski

Challenge

Although it is a voluntary insurance with which realistically modest insurance amounts are agreed upon, from which the calculated percentage of disability is determined, proportional to the injuries suffered by the driver or passenger, the company still decided to reject the claims for compensation. A special challenge is when the basis is disputed for a reason that requires additional research and collection of evidence to prove the merits of the claim for compensation. This type of case is rare due to the lack of information of the insured, which was a motive more in order to create a new practice with our stamp on it.

Our process

1. Case planning

In this particular case, given that a traffic accident occurred outside of Macedonia and the surcharge relates to a motor liability policy issued within the borders of Macedonia, the subject itself required additional research into the green card system. Data was collected from the National Insurance Bureau and insurance companies and we came to the conclusion that this is the first such case, that is, the first such damage claim in Macedonia.

2. Assessing the situation

After initial investigations and collection of information, data and material facts, we concluded that the Special and General Conditions for Insurance against the Consequences of an Accident (Accident) do not establish a territorial limitation. This was the starting point for initiating a lawsuit after the insurance company rejected the request on the grounds that the surcharge only applies to damages incurred on the territory of Macedonia.

3. Filing a case in court

After providing the evidence and expert opinions in a short period of time, the lawsuit was filed with the Basic Civil Court in Skopje, against the insurance company with which the owner of the vehicle had concluded insurance, i.e. paid extra for insurance of the driver and passengers of that vehicle. With the lawsuit, we requested that the injured parties be compensated for established permanent disability from the consequences of an accident.

4. Result

The first-instance procedure ended positively in favor of the injured parties, with an exceptionally favorable amount of compensation. Given that this is the first such case, the Insurance Company decided to file an appeal so as not to create a practice for compensation for this type of cases.