Research On Lawsuit Status Of Insurance Company In The Traffic Accident Damage Compensation Case

"Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court of Some Issues concerning the Application of Law for the Trial of Cases on Compensation for Personal Injury"(hereinafter referred to as Interpretation) issued in2012has led to a new round of discussions on lawsuits regarding the cases on compensation for personal injury for insurance companies. For a long time there has been a great controversy as to whether or not the third party victim has a right to directly claim against the insurer under China’s laws and regulations. Therefore, the lawsuit status of insurances companies in the cases of traffic accident damages has aroused the attention of legal theorists and juridical practitioners. Although Interpretation has united the lawsuit status of insurance companies in judicial practice, it still fails to satisfy the theoretical needs of being taken as a joint defendant in the cases of traffic accident damages due to unclear legislation in the past. The third party’s direct claims against insurers should be definitely made it onto the Law of The People’s Republic of China on Road Traffic Safety and other laws, but the fact is the claims against insurers are not stipulated in relevant laws, or stipulated with attached conditions, which obviously cannot make insurance companies obtain legal support as a joint defendant in the cases of traffic accident damages. The practices of other countries, however, legally specify the third party’s direct claims against insurers by the relevant laws of compulsory insurance system, which is actually also a protection of the interests of the third party, while at the same time making insurance companies obtain legislative support as a joint defendant in the cases of traffic accident damages. Therefore, the legislation provisions of the third party’s direct claims against insurers have yet to be perfected. In addition, joint action theory in civil action should be combined to analyze the possibility of insurance companies as a joint defendant. Learning from the provisions of foreign joint litigation system, perfection of the form of joint action applies to the cases of traffic accident damages. Theoretically this paper analyzes the lawsuit status of insurance companies. Besides, from the diversity of the adjudicating objects, it explores the reasons for this phenomenon, and proposes suggestions for related systems concerning the lawsuit status of insurance companies in the cases of traffic accident damages.