Amsterdam,
November 1, 1995
The
abolition of liability
United Insurance Press VVP-Magazine
Liability should be abolished. The tide must
be turned before it is too late and we must start working
on this now if we wish to offer a solvent future to
our branch of industry. So what will happen if we go
on lounging in our chairs? Well in that case, we will
be unable to offer anything to private citizens, businesses,
clubs or institutions by the year 2050 – not
even a fire policy - since by that time our industry
will have gone into global bankruptcy. I believe that
the time of waiting until politicians or jurisprudence
confront us with new unmanageable circumstances is
over.
Hans van Ommen, Managing Director of Lugt Sobbe & Co.
seized the opportunity provided by last week’s
Euroforum national nonlife insurance congress to forcefully
argue the case for a complete change in thinking about
liability and insurance. He observes that the recovery
of loss has grown out of all proportion and the amounts
for which insurers are being held liable are rising.
The situation is out of control and hopeless in fact,
with the advent of uncertain times for private citizens
and for businesses. It is actually becoming too risky
for the prospective entrepreneur to undertake anything,
while unknown dangers lurk around the corner for insurers
as well. Insurers have proved to be liable in the long
term for events which they could scarcely have envisaged
in the past. Decades later, asbestos and environmental
pollution have emerged as loss factors. Uncertainty
rules now, according to Van Ommen, and there is no
question of equality of rights, because it is simply
a matter of luck whether or not you can hold another
party liable. Nor do the rules prescribed by Brussels
make things any simpler. As matters stand at present,
policy is actually more likely to move in the direction
of increasingly wide-ranging and therefore unmanageable
possibilities of holding others liable for material
loss and personal injury. Van Ommen believes that there
is no sense in creating a subsequent outcry that legislation
is impossible to implement. Insurers should be involved
in the political deliberation process and should think
ahead. He appeals to all insurers to exert a stronger
influence on policy in order to prevent chaos and uncontrollable
growth. Van Ommen’s choice is the way back – the
abolition of liability.
According to Van Ommen, private citizens, businesses,
the self-employed, clubs or institutions are best able
to judge for themselves whether and to what extent
they wish to insure against material loss or personal
injury. They know the scale of the risk to be insured,
after all. They alone have an overall view of what
loss requires insurance cover and for what amount.
They alone are capable of knowing the potential severity
of their financial straits should they or a member
of their family suffer physical disability. The insurance
industry must respond to the consumer’s own wish
to be well insured without having to depend on third
parties.
To clearly set out the direction to be taken, to accept
responsibility and to take initiatives is Van Ommen’s
summary of the marching orders for the insurance sector.
The victim of a road traffic accident is entitled to
compensation for personal injury. But no one yet has
ever been able to explain to me why a cancer victim
suffering from a similar disability should have less
need of an identical benefit.
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