The injured third party's right to sue the wrongdoer's insurer directly, which may then pay no one else until that party is satisfied.
Direct action lets the victim of a loss sue the wrongdoer's liability insurer themselves, without going through the wrongdoer or waiting for judgment and payment. It solves a very concrete problem: without it, the money would pass into the wrongdoer's estate, exposed to their creditors and their bankruptcy, so that the victim of an insolvent party would end up with nothing although insurance existed. Its practical consequence is a prohibition on the insurer: it may no longer pay anyone other than the injured third party until that party is satisfied, and a payment made into the policyholder's hands does not discharge it. The regime of available defenses completes the picture: the insurer may raise against the victim whatever concerns the scope of cover, exclusions and limits, but not what sanctions a breach by its policyholder, forfeiture or proportional reduction, which it must instead recoup from them afterward. The problem solved is the wrongdoer's insolvency, which would make liability insurance useless to the person it really protects.
The French Court of Cassation recognized direct action as early as a judgment of June 14, 1926, deriving it from the victim's exclusive right to the indemnity, long before any statute enshrined it. Article L. 124-3 of the Insurance Code, as rewritten by the act of August 1, 2003, put it into legislation and expressly bars the insurer from paying anyone other than the injured third party until that party is satisfied.
action directe contre l'assureur de responsabilité, droit exclusif du tiers lésé