Regres
Recourse (regres)
The right of a party (such as an insurer or the UWV) to recover costs it has compensated to a victim from the liable party.
Recourse
Recourse ('regres') is the right of a party that has paid compensation or a benefit to an injured party to then recover that amount from the person liable for the damage. In personal-injury practice recourse plays a major role: once an insurer, the UWV or an employer compensates costs that should actually be borne by a liable third party, that party can recover them through recourse. The legal basis is in Article 6:107a BW (recourse for health insurers), Article 2 WAM, and various social-security provisions such as Article 99 WIA and Article 52a ZW.
Common forms in injury practice
Practical consequences
For the victim, recourse usually has no direct financial consequences: the compensation has already been received. It is, however, important to know that recourse parties can act independently in damage proceedings. This can make negotiations with the liability insurer more complex, as several parties claim from the same pool. In practice recourse claims are often handled collectively via umbrella agreements (such as the Code of Conduct for Personal Injury Handling) to limit proceedings.
“The health insurer exercised its right of recourse and recovered the €18,000 treatment costs from the liability insurer of the party that caused the traffic accident.”
Source: AI
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