The Supreme Court will check the CMTPL norms approved by the Central Bank

The Supreme Court (SC) will check the OSAGO norms approved by the Central Bank in the part that allows insurers to terminate the car insurance contract if “false or incomplete” information provided by the insured is identified. Yulia Tsybulchenko filed a lawsuit against the Bank of Russia for violating the norms of the Civil Code, who was unable to receive compensation for a car damaged in an accident. The culprit of the accident turned out to be a taxi driver who did not inform his insurance company about his work as a carrier. On this basis, the insurer unilaterally terminated the OSAGO contract. Experts refer to data according to which more than 60% of taxis did not have a special OSAGO policy for taxis in 2022. The plaintiff’s lawyer concludes that the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in this case is important for all motorists.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will consider the claim of Muscovite Yulia Tsybulchenko, who demands to recognize the OSAGO rules as partially invalid. The Bank of Russia, which approved these rules, is the defendant in the case.

The basis for the complaint (“Kommersant” got acquainted with the text) was an accident in which Ms. Tsybulchenko got on March 18, 2020. The culprit was found to be another driver who presented an OSAGO policy during the paperwork. The amount of damage amounted to about 100 thousand rubles, the representative of the victim, lawyer Andrey Sologubov, told Kommersant. Later, when Mrs. Tsybulchenko turned to AlfaStrakhovanie (the insurance company responsible for the accident), it turned out that the insurance policy was not valid at the time of the accident. The insurer terminated the contract on December 1, 2019 unilaterally, because in May 2019 the driver did not inform the insurer that he was working as a taxi driver when applying for a car insurance policy. Clause 1.15 of the insurance rules allows the company to terminate the contract after the fact in case of revealing “false or incomplete information provided by the insured that is essential for determining the degree of insured risk.” If the company had known from the very beginning that they were dealing with a taxi driver, they would have applied a different tariff.

Since the culprit de facto did not have a valid OSAGO at the time of the accident, Yulia Tsybulchenko could not receive compensation for the damage. In 2021-2022, the victim sued AlfaStrakhovanie, trying to invalidate the decision to terminate the policy, but was not successful. After that, she appealed to the Supreme Court. In her opinion, paragraph 1.15 of the insurance rules is contrary to Art. 944 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which does not allow the insurer to recognize the insurance contract as invalid, “if the circumstances that the insured has kept silent about have already disappeared.” The taxi driver who caused the accident lost his taxi driver’s license in July 2019, and the policy was revoked in December. These are “circumstances that have disappeared,” the plaintiff believes. If such an explanation were in the OSAGO rules, the insurer would not be able to withdraw the policy, and Yulia Tsybulchenko would receive damages, follows from the claim.

The press service of the Bank of Russia told Kommersant that they would present their position during the trial. The Russian Union of Motor Insurers (RSA) believes that paragraph 1.15 of the OSAGO rules does not contradict Art. 944 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. “The invalidity of the contract (it is recognized as invalid from the date of its conclusion) and the early termination of the contract (the contract is terminated from the date of its early termination) are different concepts,” they say in the PCA.

The press service of AlfaStrakhovanie confirmed to Kommersant that the contract with the taxi driver was terminated due to violations of the rules. “The client was notified of the early termination of the contract, so the policy was not valid at the time of the accident and the payment to the victim was denied,” the company said. “The legality of the company’s actions was confirmed by the decisions of the financial commissioner and the court.”

Andrei Sologubov believes that the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in this case is important for all motorists. “According to media reports, more than half of taxi drivers in the Moscow region use incorrectly issued policies, while about 60% of accidents occur precisely with the participation of this category of taxi drivers,” he says.

The head of the competence center of the International Eurasian Taxi Forum, Stanislav Shvagerus, claims that “the OSAGO system for passenger taxis does not work”, referring to the data of the Bank of Russia for 2022, according to which out of 453 thousand taxi cars only 175 thousand had a special OSAGO policy (for taxis). “Insurance companies continue to massively refuse to conclude compulsory insurance,” explained Mr. Schwagerus.

Ivan Buranov