1.Book 6 of the Civil Code: The New Non-Contractual Liability Law
The law of February 7, 2024, introducing Book 6 “Non-Contractual Liability,” gives liability law a new look. Book 6 comes into effect on January 1, 2025, and heralds the new non-contractual liability law.
Book 6 aims to modernize non-contractual liability law. The new non-contractual liability law has a significant impact on the insurance sector.
Here you can read more about one of the innovations of the new non-contractual liability law (Book 6 of the Belgian Civil Code) that impact the insurance sector.
2.Article 6.37 of the Civil Code introduces a statutory reservation for new damage and aggravation of existing damage for injured parties.
This means that someone who has already received compensation for physical or psychological damage can still claim additional compensation for new or aggravated damage. However, this is only possible if this damage has not yet been taken into account and could not reasonably have been known at the time of the court decision or out-of-court settlement. It is important to note that injured parties cannot validly waive this right.
Book 6 of the Civil Code thus provides an automatic reservation for the cases mentioned in Article 6.37 of the Civil Code. This changes the old regulation, which always required a judicial reservation, for example, based on a medical expert report. Now, a judicial reservation is no longer necessary. The claim for additional compensation under Article 6.37 of the Civil Code is subject to the general statute of limitations. This means that the claim expires five years after the day on which the injured party became aware of the new or aggravated damage and the identity of the responsible person. In any case, the claim expires twenty years after the event causing the damage occurred.
Article 6.37 of the Civil Code does not prevent parties from continuing to use the judicial reservation as under the old law. This reservation concerns foreseeable future damage, the realization of which is still uncertain at the time of evaluation. The judicial reservation also has a statute of limitations that is more favorable to the injured party. A claim to rule on the subject of the judicial reservation is admissible for twenty years after the final decision allowing the reservation.
3.Use of Settlements in Liability Insurance and the right to additional compensation
The introduction of Article 6.37 of the Civil Code is also important for the insurance sector. Liability insurers often enter into settlement agreements with injured parties as part of an amicable settlement. These agreements aim to fully compensate for all harmful consequences of the liability-causing event. Insurers often formulate these settlements broadly to cover all possible damage, including future and unforeseen damage. However, this can be disadvantageous for injured parties who later face new or aggravated damage that they could not have known about at the time of the settlement.
Under the old law, various methods were provided to protect injured parties in such scenarios. Article 6.37 of the Civil Code now offers legal protection by stipulating that injured parties can no longer validly waive their right to additional compensation in the cases provided for in this article. Insurers are therefore well-advised to clearly and separately specify the different damage items in settlements. This makes it easier to determine new or aggravated damage in relation to the already compensated damage.
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