Contractual clause. If there is a breach of a contractual clause, the insurer is not obligated to indemnify the carrier whose cargo was stolen. This was the understanding of the 4th Civil Court of Brasília. The body denied the request made by a company seeking indemnification for stolen medicines.
According to Revista Consultor Jurídico, the case occurred in April 2017, when the company that was transporting medicines and hospital products, valued at R$ 1.4 million, was robbed. In view of this, the insurer was called upon for compensation. But the request was denied on the grounds that there had been a breach of the risk management rules and of shipment in an amount exceeding the limit of the guarantee.
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The carrier requested indemnification in the amount of R$ 704 thousand, plus interest and monetary correction since the date of the robbery. The insurer, however, presented a defense, alleging that the maximum guarantee limit contracted had been R$ 500 thousand, since this involves the transport of medicine and not of goods in general. In addition, it stated that the amount of indemnification requested does not match the amount reported in the robbery notice.
Breach of contractual clause
Judge Giordano Resende Costa agreed with the arguments and ruled the initial requests unfounded. The magistrate found in favor of the insurer regarding the allegation that there had been a breach of the rules contained in the policy, especially with respect to the maximum limit of the guarantee contracted and the risk management requirements.
“The maximum guarantee limit assumed by the insurer was stipulated at R$ 500 thousand, and any operation that implied a risk in a greater amount should be communicated to the company, under penalty of absence of coverage. In this context, there can be no question of the plaintiff’s lack of knowledge and/or breach of the duty to inform on the part of the insurer, since the aforementioned documentation was duly signed by the plaintiff,” he stated.
The judge further understood that “there is no way to apply to the case the contractual rules relating to the transport of goods in general, as the carrier intends.” For this reason, he denied the requests and determined that the company must bear the payment of the procedural costs and attorneys’ fees, set at R$ 15 thousand.
Source: Conjur
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