LAW OF JULY 5, 1985 ON TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

Chapter I: Compensation for victims of traffic accidents.

The provisions of this Chapter apply even when transported under a contract to victims of a traffic accident in which is involved a motor land vehicle and its trailers or semi-trailers, with with the exception of railways and tramways running on their own tracks.

Section I: Provisions relating to the right to compensation.

The victims, including the drivers, cannot be opposed to force majeure or the act of a third party by the driver or the keeper of a vehicle mentioned in article 1.

The victims, except the drivers of motorized land vehicles, are compensated for the damage resulting from the personal injuries they have suffered, without their own fault being able to be brought against them except for their inexcusable fault if it was the fault. exclusive cause of the accident.

The victims designated in the previous paragraph, when they are under the age of sixteen or over seventy, or when, whatever their age, they are holders, at the time of the accident, of a title recognizing them a rate of permanent incapacity or invalidity at least equal to 80 p. 100, are, in all cases, compensated for the damage resulting from the personal injuries they have suffered.

However, in the cases referred to in the two preceding paragraphs, the victim is not compensated by the author of the accident for damage resulting from the attacks on his person when he has voluntarily investigated the damage he has suffered.

The fault committed by the driver of the land motor vehicle has the effect of limiting or excluding compensation for the damage he has suffered.

The fault committed by the victim has the effect of limiting or excluding compensation for damage to property that it has suffered. However, supplies and devices delivered on medical prescription give rise to compensation in accordance with the rules applicable to compensation for personal injury.

When the driver of a land motor vehicle is not the owner, the fault of this driver can be brought up against the owner for compensation for damage caused to his vehicle. The owner has recourse against the driver.

Damage suffered by a third party as a result of damage caused to the direct victim of a traffic accident is compensated by taking into account the limitations or exclusions applicable to compensation for such damage.

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Section III: The offer of compensation.

The insurer who guarantees civil liability for a land motor vehicle is required to submit, within a maximum period of eight months from the accident, an offer of compensation to the victim who has suffered personal injury. . In the event of the victim’s death, the offer is made to his heirs and, if applicable, to his spouse.

An offer must also be made to the other victims within eight months of their request for compensation.

The offer includes all compensable items for damage, including items relating to damage to property when they have not been the subject of prior settlement.

It may be provisional when the insurer has not, within three months of the accident, been informed of the consolidation of the victim’s condition. The final offer of compensation must then be made within five months of the date on which the insurer was informed of this consolidation.

In case of multiple vehicles, and if there are several insurers, the offer is made by the insurer mandated by the others.

The above provisions are not applicable to victims to whom the accident only caused damage to property.

Insurance Code L211-9

On the occasion of its first correspondence with the victim, the insurer is required, on pain of relative nullity of the transaction that may occur, to inform the victim that he can obtain from him, on simple request, the copy. the police or gendarmerie investigation report and remind them that they can, at their discretion, be assisted by a lawyer and, in the event of a medical examination, by a doctor.

Under the same sanction, this correspondence brings to the attention of the victim the provisions of the fourth paragraph of article 12 and those of article 15.

Insurance Code L211-10

As soon as the insurer has not been able, through no fault on its part, to know that the accident had imposed disbursements on the third-party payers referred to in articles 29 and 33 of this law, they lose all right to reimbursement against him and against the author of the damage. However, the insurer cannot invoke such ignorance with regard to organizations paying social security benefits.

In all cases, the failure to produce the claims of third-party payers, within four months of the request from the insurer, results in the forfeiture of their rights against the insurer and the author. damage.

In the event that the request from the insurer does not mention the consolidation of the victim’s condition, the claims produced by third-party payers may be provisional.

Insurance Code L211-11

When, because of the victim, the third-party payers have not been able to assert their rights against the insurer, they have recourse against the victim up to the amount of the compensation he / she has received from the insurer for the same head of damage and within the limits provided for in Article 31. They must act within two years of the request for payment of benefits.

Insurance Code L211-12

When the offer has not been made within the time limits set out in Article 12, the amount of compensation offered by the insurer or allocated by the judge to the victim produces automatic interest at double the rate of the ‘legal interest from the expiry of the period until the date of the offer or of the judgment which has become final. This penalty may be reduced by the judge due to circumstances not attributable to the insurer.

Insurance Code L211-13

If the judge who sets the compensation considers that the offer proposed by the insurer was manifestly insufficient, he automatically orders the insurer to pay into the guarantee fund provided for by Article L. 421-1 of the Insurance Code. a sum at most equal to 15 p. 100 of the compensation awarded, without prejudice to the damages owed by this fact to the victim.

Insurance Code L211-14

The insurer must submit to the guardianship judge or to the family council, competent as the case may be to authorize it, any proposed transaction concerning a minor or an adult under guardianship. He must also give informal notice to the guardianship judge, at least fifteen days in advance, of the payment of the first arrears of an annuity or of any sum to be paid as compensation to the legal representative of the protected person.

Payment which has not been preceded by the required notice or the transaction which has not been authorized may be canceled at the request of any interested party or the public prosecutor except the insurer. Any clause by which the legal representative asserts himself of the ratification by the minor or the adult in guardianship of one of the acts mentioned in the first paragraph of this article is void.

Insurance Code L211-15

The victim may, by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, denounce the transaction within fifteen days of its conclusion.

Any clause of the transaction by which the victim gives up his right of denunciation is void.

The above provisions must be reproduced in very visible characters in the transaction offer and in the transaction, on pain of relative nullity of the latter.

Insurance Code L211-16

The payment of the agreed sums must be made within one month after the expiry of the denunciation period set in article 19. Otherwise, the unpaid sums automatically produce interest at the legal rate increased by half for two months, then, at the end of these two months, twice the legal rate.

Insurance Code L211-17

In the event of a conviction resulting from an enforceable court decision, even by provision, the legal interest rate is increased by 50%. 100 at the end of a period of two months and it is doubled at the end of a period of four months from the date of the court decision, when it is contradictory, and, in other cases , from the day of notification of the decision.

Insurance Code L211-18

The victim may, within the period provided for by article 2270-1 of the civil code, request compensation for the aggravation of the damage he has suffered from the insurer who paid the compensation.

Insurance Code L211-19

When the insurer invokes an exception of legal or contractual guarantee, it is required to meet the requirements of articles 12 to 20 on whose behalf it will belong; the transaction may be contested before the judge by the person on whose behalf it was made, without questioning the amount of sums allocated to the victim or to his beneficiaries.

Insurance Code L211-20

For the application of Articles 12 to 20, the State as well as public authorities, companies or organizations benefiting from an exemption under article L. 211-2 of the Insurance Code or having obtained an exemption from the The insurance obligation under Article L. 211-3 of the same code is assimilated to an insurer.

Insurance Code L211-21

The provisions of Articles 12 and 13 and 16 to 22 are applicable to the guarantee fund in its relations with the victims or their beneficiaries; however, the time limits provided for in article 12 run against the fund from the day on which it receives the information justifying its intervention.

The application of Articles 16 and 17 does not preclude the specific provisions governing legal actions against the fund. When the guarantee fund is liable for the interest provided for in Article 17, it is paid to the Public Treasury.

Insurance Code L211-22

Under the control of the public authority, a periodic publication gives an account of the indemnities fixed by the judgments and the transactions.

Insurance Code L211-23

A decree in Council of State fixes the measures necessary for the application of this section. It determines in particular the causes of suspension or extension of the time limits mentioned in article 12, as well as the reciprocal information that the insurer, the victim and the third-party payers owe each other.

Insurance Code L211-24
Chapter II: Recourse by third-party payers against persons liable for compensation for damage resulting from personal injury.

The provisions of this chapter apply to the relationship between the third party payer and the person liable for compensation for damage resulting from personal injury, regardless of the nature of the event that caused this damage.

Only the benefits listed below paid to the victim of damage resulting from injuries to his person give rise to the right to recourse against the person liable for compensation or his insurer:

1. Benefits paid by organizations, establishments and services managing a compulsory social security scheme and by those mentioned in Articles 1106-9, 1234-8 and 1234-20 of the Rural Code;
2. The services listed in II of Article I of Ordinance No. 59-76 of January 7, 1959 relating to actions for civil compensation by the State and certain other public persons;
3. The sums paid in reimbursement of the costs of medical treatment and rehabilitation;
4. Wages and salary accessories maintained by the employer during the period of inactivity following the event which caused the damage;
5. Daily sickness benefits and invalidity benefits paid by mutual associations governed by the mutual insurance code, provident institutions governed by the social security code or the rural code and insurance companies governed by the insurance code.

The remedies mentioned in article 29 are of a subrogatory nature.

These remedies are exercised within the limits of the part of the compensation which repairs the attack on the physical integrity of the victim, to the exclusion of the part of compensation of a personal nature corresponding to the physical or moral suffering by him. and aesthetic and pleasure damage or, if applicable, the part of compensation corresponding to the moral damage of the beneficiaries.

Employers are allowed to sue directly against the person responsible for damages or his insurer the reimbursement of employer charges relating to the remuneration maintained or paid to the victim during the period of unavailability of the latter. These provisions are applicable to the State by way of derogation from the provisions of article 2 of the aforementioned ordinance n ° 59-76 of January 7, 1959.

Apart from the services mentioned in Articles 29 and 32, no payment made to the benefit of a victim by virtue of a legal, contractual or statutory obligation gives rise to the right to an action against the person liable for compensation for the damage or his insurer.

Any provision contrary to the prescriptions of articles 29 to 32 and of this article is deemed unwritten unless it is no longer favorable to the victim.

However, when it is provided for by contract, the subrogatory recourse of the insurer who has paid the victim an advance on compensation due to the accident may be exercised against the insurer of the person liable for compensation up to the limit of the balance. subsisting after payments to the third parties referred to in article 29. It must be exercised, if necessary, within the time limits set by law for third-party payers to produce their claims.

Insurance Code L211-25 al. 2

The social security body responsible for reimbursement of care represents with the person responsible for damages or the latter’s insurer, and for the conclusion of a transaction, the social security bodies responsible for covering other risks and payment of family benefits.

Chapter III: Miscellaneous provisions.
Section I: The intervention of the guarantee fund in application of article 366 ter of the rural code.

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Chapter III: Miscellaneous provisions.
Section II: Default interest.

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Chapter III: Miscellaneous provisions.
Section III: Prescriptions.

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Chapter III: Miscellaneous provisions.
Section IV: Appeals for a declaration of common judgment.

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Chapter III: Miscellaneous provisions.
Section V: Indemnity annuities.

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Chapter III: Miscellaneous provisions.
Section V: Indemnity annuities.

In all cases where an annuity has been allocated, either conventionally or judicially, in compensation for damage caused by an accident, the annuitant may ask the judge, when his personal situation warrants it, that the arrears due be replaced in all or part by a capital, according to a conversion table fixed by decree.

Section VI: Judicial organization.

[* modifier article (s) *]

Chapter IV: Entry into force and transitional provisions.

The prescription provided for in Article 38 in progress at the time of the entry into force of this law shall be acquired at the expiration of a period of ten years from this entry into force, unless the prescription such as it was previously fixed or acquired during this period.

The other provisions of this law will come into force on the first day of the sixth month following the date of its publication. However:

– the provisions of Articles 1 to 6 will apply from the publication of this law, even to accidents which have given rise to legal action brought before this publication, including cases pending before the Court of Cassation. They will also apply to accidents which have occurred in the three years preceding this publication and which have not given rise to the institution of proceedings. Transactions and court decisions irrevocably having the force of res judicata cannot be called into question;

– the provisions of articles 12 to 34 are not applicable to accidents occurring before the date of entry into force of this law.

During a period of eighteen months from the entry into force of this law, the periods of eight months and five months provided for in article 12 and that of four months provided for in article 14 are respectively extended. at twelve, nine and eight months. During the same period, the period provided for in Article 20 is extended to two months when the debtor of the compensation is the State, a public authority, a company or an organization for which an exemption has been granted by virtue of of Article L. 211-3 of the Insurance Code.

Article 222 IV of organic law n ° 99-209 of March 19, 1999 relating to New Caledonia provides:

“In all the legislative and regulatory provisions in force:

1 ° The reference to the territory of New Caledonia is replaced by the reference to New Caledonia;

2 ° The reference to the territorial assembly of New Caledonia is replaced by the reference to the congress of New Caledonia;

3 ° The reference to the executive of New Caledonia is replaced by the reference to the government of New Caledonia. “