Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022
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Duties of disclosure | ||
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8. The Act of 2019 is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 16: | ||
“Mutual duties of disclosure in claims handling | ||
16A. (1) Where, after a claim has been made by a consumer, the consumer or the insurer concerned becomes aware of information (including non‑factual information) that would either support or prejudice the validity of the claim— | ||
(a) in a case in which the consumer has become aware of the information, the consumer shall disclose the information to the insurer, and | ||
(b) in a case in which the insurer has become aware of the information, the insurer shall disclose the information to the consumer. | ||
(2) Where the information referred to in subsection (1) is contained in a report prepared for the purposes of pending or contemplated civil proceedings— | ||
(a) that subsection shall apply notwithstanding any enactment or rule of law by virtue of which the report would otherwise be subject to litigation privilege, and | ||
(b) the consumer or insurer, as the case may be, in receipt of the report shall disclose the report within 60 days from the date of receipt. | ||
(3) This section shall not affect the operation of any enactment or rule of law by virtue of which— | ||
(a) a report prepared by a lawyer, or | ||
(b) a communication between a lawyer and another person, | ||
is privileged. | ||
(4) In this section— | ||
‘claim’ means a claim made under a contract of insurance; | ||
‘report’ means a report, letter or statement— | ||
(a) in draft or final form, | ||
(b) in physical or electronic form, | ||
(c) prepared by an accountant, actuary, architect, dentist, doctor, engineer, occupational therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, scientist or other expert, | ||
(d) which— | ||
(i) has been procured by or on behalf of a consumer or insurer for the purposes of assessing the validity of a claim, or | ||
(ii) contains information which either supports or prejudices a claim, | ||
and | ||
(e) which has been received by the consumer or insurer concerned, | ||
and includes any maps, drawings, photographs, graphs, charts, calculations or other like matter referred to in any such report, letter or statement. | ||
Disclosure of deductions from claim settlement | ||
16B. (1) Where an insurer has deducted from a claim settlement any amount, including where the deduction is in respect of amounts paid out of public moneys to a claimant (other than deductions in respect of payments in relation to which a corresponding amount has been paid to the Minister for Social Protection in accordance with Part 11B of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 ), the insurer shall notify the claimant that an amount has been so deducted. | ||
(2) The notification referred to in subsection (1) shall— | ||
(a) specify the amount of the deduction, | ||
(b) specify the reason why that amount has been deducted from the claim settlement, and | ||
(c) be provided to the claimant on paper or another durable medium. | ||
(3) In this section— | ||
‘claimant’ means a consumer who has made a claim under a relevant contract of insurance; | ||
‘claim settlement’ means the amount payable to a claimant in respect of a claim under a relevant contract of insurance, before any deduction, whether in accordance with that contract or otherwise, is made by the insurer; | ||
‘public moneys’ means moneys charged on or issued out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof or provided by the Oireachtas; | ||
‘relevant contract of insurance’ means a contract of insurance in respect of non-life insurance.”. |