|
Subrogation is the substitution of one person for another, or of one person into the place of another with respect to rights, claims, or securities. It is most commonly found in the context of insurance, whereby an insurance company, having paid a claim to its insured (e.g., automobile collision, workers' compensation, health insurance, etc.) steps into the shoes of its insured and enforces a claim against a third-party tortfeasor responsible for causing the loss, in the name of the insured. Rights of subrogation can arise three different ways: (1) automatically as a matter of law, (2) by agreement as part of a contract, or (3) by statute (e.g., workers' compensation, Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act, Medicare, No-fault auto PIP benefits, etc.). Subrogation by contract commonly arises in contracts of insurance. Subrogation as a matter of law is an equitable doctrine, and forms part of a wider body of law known as unjust enrichment. Two areas where subrogation is relevant are insurance and sureties. In each case, the basic premise is that where one person (i.e. typically an insurer or a guarantor) makes a payment on an obligation which is the primary responsibility of another party, the person making the payment is subrogated to the claims of the person to whom they made the payment with respect to any claims or remedies which are exercisable against the primarily responsible party. For example, if a car owner has collision insurance coverage〔http://www.irmi.com/online/insurance-glossary/terms/c/collision-insurance.aspx〕 on his car and the car is damaged by a negligent third party, and if the car owner elects to claim under his or her insurance policy, then any claims which the car owner had against the negligent party will pass to the insurance company in jurisdictions which recognise the doctrine. Similarly, if a father guarantees the debts of his son to the bank (i.e. a contract of suretyship), and the bank elects to call upon the guarantee rather than claiming against the son directly, and the father pays out on the guarantee, the father will become subrogated to the bank's claims against the son. The doctrine of subrogation can also pass proprietary rights such as a security interest or claim to ownership of goods. If a work of art is stolen, and the insurance company pays out under a policy of insurance to the owner and the art is later recovered, the art will belong to the insurance company under rights of subrogation. Similarly, if an insured ship sinks, the rights of salvage will pass to the insurer if the claim is paid out as a total loss. If a guarantee is paid out by a guarantor and the bank also held a mortgage over the debtor's home, the guarantor will be subrogated to the bank's rights as a mortgagee with respect to the debtor's home. In many areas where subrogation arises as a matter of law, subrogation may be limited under the terms of the relevant contract. For example, in a contract of guarantee, the guarantee will often provide that the guarantor waives the right of subrogation or agrees not to exercise it unless the bank has been paid in full. In an insurance contract, in addition to right of subrogation at law, there will often be a right of subrogation bolstered by the insured party's agreement that the party will provide all necessary assistance to the insurance company in pursuing any subrogated claims. Subrogation is sometimes misunderstood by lay people and criticized on the basis that payment under an insurance claim is simply a right based upon the payment of insurance premiums, and a belief that they should also retain a right to exercise any claims arising from the insured event. An insurance contract is a contract of indemnity, however, and to allow a party to receive insurance proceeds and claim against third parties would mean that the recipient might recover more than the total loss. Because subrogation operates to prevent such over-recovery, it is considered to form part of the general law of unjust enrichment (i.e. preventing a party by being unjustly enriched by pursuing a claim for a loss in respect of which they have already been indemnified). Subrogation is an equitable remedy and is subject to all the usual limitations that apply to equitable remedies. Although the basic concept is relatively straightforward, subrogation is considered to be a highly technical area of the law. ==Types of subrogation== Although the classes of subrogation rights are not fixed (or closed), and vary between different legal jurisdictions, types of subrogation are commonly divided into the following categories: # Indemnity insurer's subrogation rights # Surety's subrogation rights # Subrogation rights of business creditors # Lender's subrogation rights # Banker's subrogation rights # Trustee's subrogation rights Although the various fields have the same conceptual underpinnings, there are subtle distinctions between them in relation to the application of the law of subrogation. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Subrogation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|