The plaintiff and 4 others were driving a Kia car on a business trip to Shanxi when they encountered the defendant forcing an overtake during normal travel. This resulted in severe damage to the vehicle and serious injuries to the people inside. After investigation by the local traffic management department, it was determined that the defendant was fully responsible. The plaintiff then listed the offending driver, the insurance company, the car owner, and others as defendants and filed a claim for compensation. After deliberation, the court ruled that the insurance company and the offending driver should bear the compensation responsibility for the five plaintiffs. It is reported that nationwide, cases where the plaintiff lists the insurance company as the first defendant and successfully receives compensation are relatively rare. In the complaint, the plaintiff stated that at around 11 o'clock on May 3, 2004, the plaintiff Wu drove a Kia motor vehicle of his unit normally. The defendant Zhou drove a Jeep into the oncoming lane, colliding with the plaintiff's vehicle, causing severe damage to the vehicle and serious injuries to the people inside. Upon investigation, it was found that the offending vehicle was purchased by the defendant Du from a local construction engineering company. Later, the local traffic management department determined that the defendant Zhou was fully responsible for this accident, and the plaintiff had no responsibility. Subsequently, the plaintiff requested the defendants to jointly bear all losses and applied for compensation from a certain insurance company, but after multiple requests, there was no result. The plaintiff then listed several parties, including the offending driver and the insurance company, as defendants and sued them in court.
The defendant, a certain insurance company, argued that the plaintiff and the insurance company had no legal relationship. The legal relationship between the insurance company and Zhou belonged to an infringement legal relationship, while the legal relationship between the insurance company and Du was an insurance contract relationship, which were different legal relationships. Secondly, the third-party liability insurance subscribed by the defendant Du was commercial insurance, not the mandatory third-party liability insurance as stipulated. The insurance company could only legally compensate the insured party under the contract, and others had no right to apply for compensation from the insurance company. Additionally, the Jeeps driven by the defendant, at the time of the accident, had exceeded the valid inspection period of the driving license, so the insurance company should not compensate.
After deliberation, the court believed that the motor vehicle third-party liability insurance subscribed by the defendant Du and the third-party mandatory liability insurance referred to in Article 76 both belonged to commercial insurance. The insurer has the obligation to compensate the third party, but only within the liability limit of the insurance contract. The third-party liability insurance subscribed by the defendant Du under his own name had a limit of 100,000 yuan, and the accident occurred within the validity period of the insurance contract. Therefore, a certain insurance company should bear the compensation responsibility within the limit. The excess part should be borne by the party at fault in the accident, Zhou. Regarding the defense raised by the insurance company that the driving license of the offending vehicle had exceeded the valid inspection period at the time of the accident, due to the lack of evidence that the insurance company had clearly explained this to the insured at the time of signing the contract, its defense was not accepted.
Reference materials: Related thematic articles: Discrepancy between agreed service area and actual situation - Pursuit - Online Legal Consultation for Traffic Accident Lawyers; If the creditor finds that the debtor has maliciously transferred property to evade debt, how should the creditor stop it? - Traffic Accident News; Responsibilities of public security organs at traffic accident scenes - Traffic Accident Litigation; "Because of focus, simplicity; because of professionalism, trustworthiness; because of dedication, reliability; because of integrity, dependability." Lawyer Zheng has been committed to becoming an expert in traffic accident cases since the beginning of his practice, having years of experience in handling traffic accidents, with rich mediation and litigation skills, thoroughly understanding the procedures and processes of traffic accident handling, and establishing good relations with courts, traffic police detachments, and disability appraisal departments.
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