2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
Insurance cover exists in the event of accidents with feral game. It doesn't matter whether the animal is moving freely or lying dead on the street.
A driver is also entitled to insurance cover if he runs over a dead wild boar and thereby causes an accident. This emerges from a ruling by the Stuttgart Regional Court, which is reported in the Munich journal “Law and Damage” (issue 4/2008). In the opinion of the court, the case is to be assessed under insurance law in the same way as a collision with a live, moving animal. The insurance must therefore pay according to the relevant provisions (Ref.: 5 S 244/06).
Typical animal hazard
In that case, the plaintiff had run over a dead wild boar lying on the roadway. This led to an accident for which the plaintiff sought insurance cover. The insurance company refused to pay, arguing that insurance cover only exists for a collision with moving wild animals. The district court saw no legal basis for this: Even with game lying dead on the road, the so-called typical animal hazard would arise in a collision. The insurance cover is just intended for these. (dpa / gms)
