The period within which an insurer must pay the indemnity or an interim sum, imposed by statute for certain perils and left to contract elsewhere.
General insurance contract law sets no universal settlement deadline: the insurer must pay within a reasonable time, a notion only case law gives content to, and delay is sanctioned by interest that compensates poorly for blocked cash flow. The legislature therefore stepped in where urgency is greatest and the balance of power most uneven. For natural catastrophes it requires an interim payment within a first period and the balance within a second, counted from the filing of the estimate or the publication of the declaration order. For road accidents it obliges the insurer to make an offer within a short period, failing which interest runs at double the statutory rate, a sanction heavy enough to deter. Elsewhere the deadline is contractual and expressed in days after agreement on the amount, a formula that moves the whole difficulty onto the date of that agreement. The problem solved is the power that mere slowness gives an insurer.
Article L. 125-2 of the French Insurance Code requires, for natural catastrophes, an interim payment within two months of the filing of the estimate or the publication of the declaration order, and the balance within three months. The Badinter Act of July 5, 1985 separately requires an offer of compensation within eight months of a road accident, on pain of interest at double the statutory rate.
délai de versement de l'indemnité, provision sur indemnité