Responsibilities of the insured in the event of an insurance subject accident

In addition to the above, the terms of the insurance contract can determine other duties for the insured in the event of an accident. For example, in property insurance, the insured must deliver the list of damaged properties and their price estimate and the documents of each to the insurer; In the case of theft, the insured must have already reported the theft to law enforcement and judicial authorities, filed a complaint about it, and delivered the relevant certificate to the insurer along with the theft notification; In the case of physical damage, the policyholder should refer to the insured doctor to estimate and confirm the life-threatening options and...

Usually, the guarantee of non-fulfillment of contractual obligations should be included in the contract itself, and in the usual cases of guarantee of similar executions, failure to notify the occurrence of an accident in time is foreseen for them. What Does An Insurance Estimator Do?

1-Action to prevent the development and increase of damages

Article 15 of the Insurance Law obliges the insurer to make efforts to avoid the occurrence of an accident and, in the event of an accident, to take proper and conventional measures to prevent the spread of damage. According to this article:

In order to prevent damage, the insured must take care of the subject of insurance, which everyone usually does for their property, and in the event of an accident approaching or occurring, take the necessary measures to prevent the spread and development of damage.

Article 15 refers to the general principle in the law of obligations, which Iranian jurists have interpreted as the rule of dealing with damages, and the above article is the only case that clearly mentions this rule and states its effects. Therefore, with the attention that has been paid to the rule of dealing with damages in recent years, lawyers have paid special attention to this article of the insurance law.

This rule is mainly proposed and developed in common law under the title of mitigation of damages, and it does not exist in the above form in French law, and the French insurance law does not mention it either.

The basis and effects of the rule of dealing with damage should be sought in the relationship between the harmful act and the damage caused and the role of the victim in the realization of the damage or its development. In fact, if an accident is about to happen, people should deal with it in a reasonable way and prevent it as much as possible, and if the accident happens, the reasonable and expected behavior of the victim is to try to prevent it. Development causes damage. In these cases, if the injured party has caused the damage by someone else, and according to the principles of civil liability, the other person will be responsible for payment and refuses to take reasonable and normal measures that everyone takes to prevent the occurrence of an accident or the development of damage, a part of The aforementioned damages will be documented to the injured party.

The different dimensions of the rule of dealing with damage are clearly stated in Article 15. 

The insured cannot refuse to take the necessary precautions to preserve the property and prevent damage due to the fact that he has obtained insurance coverage for the property, or in cases where an accident is about to occur and he can prevent the accident and damage with conventional operations. to take, to refuse this matter. Also, if an accident occurs and the insured can reduce the amount of damage and refrain from developing it, he is obliged to make all his reasonable and conventional efforts (as if he had not taken insurance).

The law does not specify the guarantee of non-fulfillment of the above tasks and it is not clear if the insured does not deal with the damage, what kind of disturbance will be caused to his right to insurance compensation. Therefore, the solution should be sought by analyzing the rule of dealing with damage and insurance principles. According to the general rules and the details of dealing with damages, if the victim refuses to perform the above reasonable and conventional tasks, the damages that could not be realized or reduced by his actions will be documented by his own actions and will not be directed to the person responsible for the accident. If the injured party has refrained from acting with attention, knowledge, and knowledge in order to increase the burden of the person responsible for the accident, his omission is considered intentional. Otherwise, if the harmed person's actions were ignored and occurred as a result of tolerance, it will be considered unintentional and as a result of the harmed person's fault. Therefore, in the case of guaranteeing the performance of the policyholder's behavior in opposition to the duties stipulated in Article 15 of the Insurance Law, in the case of intentional abandonment of the act, considering that the damage caused intentionally by the policyholder is documented, it seems that the damages that could have been prevented will not be paid. However, if the policyholder was not intentional in not fulfilling his obligations and the insurance contract also covers the fault and negligence of the policyholder, the insurer will be obliged to compensate for the damage and cannot refuse to fulfill the contractual obligations based on Article 15. In this regard, contractual terms play a decisive role.

2- Notification of the accident to the insurer

According to Article 15 of the Insurance Law:

The policyholder must notify the insurer as soon as possible and within five days from the date of his knowledge of the accident, otherwise, the insurer will not be responsible unless the policyholder proves that due to the events that were beyond his control It was not possible for him to notify the insurer within the stipulated period.

Reporting an accident is one of the most basic duties of the insurer, and failure to do so can destroy the insurance coverage established according to the law and contract. The importance of this is due to the fact that the insurer bears the final burden of compensation and payment, and therefore, he should be informed as soon as possible of the occurrence of an accident that will result in his obligations, before the effects and signs disappear. The accident can be aware of its quality and to investigate the damage. In this way, the insurer will be able, on the one hand, to effectively investigate whether the accident is real or collusive and fraudulent, and on the other hand, in the case of property insurance, the documents needed to protect their rights and follow up on the matter against The person responsible for the damage must be provided. Therefore, various points regarding the method and duration of the announcement, as well as the guarantee of the implementation of the failure to announce correctly, should be taken into consideration.