Notice of claim
The act by which the policyholder tells the insurer a covered event has occurred, within a contractual period whose breach is no longer automatically penalized.
Article L. 113-2 of the French Insurance Code gives the policyholder five working days to give notice of a loss, two for theft. The notice date is when the insurer is taken to know of the event. Its response deadlines run from there, and so does the evidence: an insurer told late can no longer inspect the site, question witnesses or mount a useful recovery. Policies still print forfeiture of cover in bold. Yet most of its bite went with the article's final paragraph, added by the act of December 31, 1989. The insurer can raise late notice only if it proves the delay caused it prejudice, and in most files it cannot. The notice need be neither complete nor quantified. It describes the event, the circumstances and the consequences known so far, and the figures come later.
Article L. 113-2 of the French Insurance Code sets the period at five working days, cut to two working days for theft. Its final paragraph, added by the act of December 31, 1989, bars forfeiture for late notice without proof that the insurer suffered prejudice: that single sentence gutted a sanction that policies still print in bold.
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