Loss of the right to be paid for an otherwise covered claim, sanctioning a breach by the policyholder after the event occurred.
Forfeiture deprives the policyholder of compensation for a loss that did fall within cover, because of a breach committed after the event: late notice, fraudulent exaggeration of the damage, failure to preserve evidence, refusal to cooperate with the adjuster. It differs clearly from an exclusion, which defines what was never covered, and from voidance, which reaches back to the formation of the contract; forfeiture leaves the contract alive and strikes only one claim. The law hedges so radical a sanction closely: the clause must appear in conspicuous type on pain of nullity, it may sanction only a precisely defined breach, and the court reviews its proportionality. In liability insurance, forfeiture cannot be raised against the victim, who is still paid, the insurer then pursuing its own policyholder. The problem solved is the policyholder's cooperation after a loss, which nothing else secures once the event has happened and the premium is banked.
Article L. 112-4 of the French Insurance Code requires forfeiture clauses to appear in conspicuous type, a requirement the Court of Cassation treats as a condition of validity rather than a mere matter of form. Article L. 113-2 adds, since the act of December 31, 1989, that forfeiture for late notice requires proof of prejudice suffered by the insurer.
perte du droit à indemnité, déchéance pour déclaration tardive