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Paris121 bis, rue de la Pompe, 75116 Paris, France

Luxembourg30, rue Marie-Adélaïde, L-2128 Luxembourg

Insurance litigation, arbitration and regulatory proceedings

Life and non-life insurance, distribution and reinsurance disputes, class actions, ACPR proceedings, arbitration: we defend insurers, reinsurers, banks and intermediaries, in France and in Luxembourg.

FranceLuxembourg

In contentious matters, we defend those who design, distribute and reinsure insurance contracts, not private individuals.

Disputes concern life and non- contracts, financial risks, insurance distribution, reinsurance, class actions and actions brought in the collective interest of consumers; they are argued before the courts, in arbitration or before the (the French prudential supervision and resolution authority), in its inspection and sanction proceedings. A single complaint can reveal a defect common to a whole book of business: before settling on a strategy, we measure with you the portfolio’s exposure and the chances of success. Settlement remains an option at every stage.

Life insuranceA contract under which an insurer undertakes to pay a lump sum or an annuity, at the end of the agreed term or on the death of the insured person, in return for premiums. In France, it is also widely used as a savings and wealth transfer vehicle.
ACPRAutorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution: the French authority, attached to the Banque de France, that authorises and supervises banks and insurers and oversees the protection of their customers.

What we do

01 Design

Preventing disputes

  • Review of the clauses and documents exposed to litigation: general conditions, pre-contractual information, distribution agreements.
  • Upgrading portfolios of contracts containing irregular or unfair clauses.
  • Assessment of the chances of success and of the risks before any action, to decide whether to sue, to settle or to refrain.
  • Evidence agreements and operating procedures drafted to stand up before a court.
  • Fraud prevention measures: analysis of the schemes, information for distribution networks and the public.
02 Steer

Managing a series of disputes

  • A strategy common to all the cases in a series, at portfolio level.
  • Coordination of the counsel who plead the cases of a series, in France and abroad.
  • Pursuit of an amicable settlement at every stage: negotiation, settlement agreements.
  • Relations with the authorities (ACPR, ⁠, ⁠, ⁠) and with the investigating services for the duration of the proceedings.
    AMFAutorité des marchés financiers: the French regulator of financial markets and financial products, whose remit covers in particular the instruments offered as unit-linked funds.
    CAACommissariat aux assurances: the supervisory authority for the insurance sector in Luxembourg.
    CSSFCommission de surveillance du secteur financier: the Luxembourg authority that supervises banks, markets and investment funds.
03 Defend

Life insurance and capitalisation

  • (renonciation) of a life insurance or (contrat de capitalisation): provision of pre-contractual information and surrender values, the policyholder’s good faith, abuse of rights, nullity of the contract.
    Right of cancellation (renonciation)The right of the holder of a life insurance or capitalisation contract to withdraw from it within thirty days of being informed that it has been concluded. If the information documents required by law were not provided, this period is extended, for a holder acting in good faith, up to a limit of eight years.
    Capitalisation contractA savings contract offered by an insurer, similar to life insurance but not linked to the length of a human life: it does not end on death and can be passed on.
  • Financial management and (devoir de conseil): investment profile, switches, warnings, liability of the insurer, of the agent acting under a or in ⁠, and of the investment manager.
    Duty to adviseThe obligation of the insurer or the distributor to propose a contract consistent with the client’s demands and needs, and to explain the reasons for that advice.
    Discretionary management mandateA way of managing a unit-linked contract in which the policyholder delegates switching decisions to a mandated manager, within an agreed investment strategy.
    Advisory managementA way of managing a contract in which the policyholder receives switching recommendations but makes the decisions.
  • Eligibility of assets and financial information, under the Code des assurances (the French Insurance Code) or, for Luxembourg contracts, under the investment rules of the CAA (the Luxembourg insurance supervisory authority).
  • ⁠: validity and performance.
    Beneficiary clauseThe provision that names the person or persons who will receive the capital on the death of the insured person.
  • Profit sharing (participation aux bénéfices) and individual or collective changes to the guaranteed minimum rate.
  • Amendments to contracts in force: fund options offered, charges, management options, investment restrictions on the (fonds en euros).
    Euro fund (capital-guaranteed general fund)A life insurance investment option whose capital is guaranteed by the insurer, which credits it each year with a share of its profits (participation aux bénéfices).
  • Group contracts taken out by savers’ associations: allegations of sham arrangements, information for members, subscription and management.
  • Upfront deduction of charges, recharacterisation of contracts, tax issues, criminal seizures or administrative attachments, contracts taken out by protected adults.
04 Defend

Borrower insurance, key person insurance and death cover

  • Unfair terms and actions brought by consumer associations.
  • Wording of the conditions of cover, application of exclusions, when benefits become payable.
  • What happens to cover when the loan is accelerated (déchéance du terme).
  • Termination and substitution of ⁠, equivalence of cover.
    Borrower (creditor) insuranceInsurance that guarantees repayment of a loan if the borrower dies, becomes disabled or is unable to work.
  • Technical and financial profit sharing under the contracts.
  • The insurer’s, the bank’s or the intermediary’s duty to advise and duty to warn; provision of pre-contractual and contractual documents.
05 Defend

Non-life insurance, financial risks and reinsurance

  • Disputes over property and casualty and liability insurance contracts: cover, exclusions, disclosure of the risk, settlement of the claim.
  • Financial risks: financial institutions policies, fraud, warranty and indemnity cover (see Corporate risks and disputes).
  • Reinsurance disputes between ceding insurers and reinsurers: scope of the treaty, follow-the-fortunes, serial claims.
  • Class actions and actions brought in the collective interest of consumers against an insurer or a distributor.
  • Arbitration in insurance or reinsurance matters, as claimant or as respondent.
06 Defend

Distribution

  • Civil liability of intermediaries: advice, warnings, information, breaches of contract.
  • Commissions and retrocessions between insurers and intermediaries, or between wholesale brokers and sub-brokers.
  • Clawback of upfront commissions after the contract is cancelled.
  • Disputes arising from brokerage, sub-brokerage and service agreements, and from operating procedures.
  • Contracts presented by persons not authorised to do so.
  • Intermediary fraud in the distribution chain: misappropriation, forgery, deception.
07 Defend

The ACPR’s Commission des sanctions and appeals

  • Responding to the notification of grievances: access to the file, written observations, procedural safeguards.
  • Defence before the Commission des sanctions, the enforcement committee of the ACPR (the French prudential supervision and resolution authority), through to the hearing and the decision.
  • Appeals to the Conseil d’État (France’s highest administrative court) against a sanction (full-jurisdiction appeal, recours de pleine juridiction) or against a supervisory measure (mesure de police administrative) taken after an inspection.
  • Applications to the urgent applications judge of the Conseil d’État (juge des référés) to suspend a sanction or its publication.

Examples of matters

  1. 01

    Defending life insurers in series of cancellation (renonciation) disputes.

  2. 02

    Upgrading the statutory information on life insurance contract portfolios, to limit the cancellation risk.

Frequently asked questions

Can a policyholder cancel their contract several years after taking it out?

It is possible where the information documents required by law were not provided: the thirty-day period is then extended, up to eight years. For contracts concluded since 2015, this extension is reserved for policyholders acting in good faith, and since 2016 the Cour de cassation (France’s highest court for civil and criminal matters) has held that the right of cancellation can be exercised abusively. The defence therefore rests on analysing the book of business and each policyholder’s actual situation.

How should a series of complaints targeting the same book of business be handled?

First, identify the common defect (document, clause, subscription process) and measure the number of contracts exposed. Upgrading the information or the clauses can limit the risk for the future. A single strategy is then adopted, with a policy on settlements, and applied consistently in every file, including where several firms are involved.

Can a decision of the ACPR’s Commission des sanctions be challenged?

Yes, by a full-jurisdiction appeal (recours de pleine juridiction) to the Conseil d’État, lodged within two months of notification of the decision. The chair of the ACPR may also appeal, with the agreement of its Supervisory Board (collège). The appeal does not suspend the decision: to have the decision, or its publication, suspended, an application must be made to the urgent applications judge (juge des référés). Procedural arguments are built from the response to the notification of grievances onwards.