Casualties in stolen cars, burden of proof on the insurance company

It is the insurance company as well as the Compensation Fund that has to prove, in order to block the compensation to the transported person, injured in a road accident, that the victim was aware of the illegal origin of the vehicle involved. The burden of proof, in fact, is not on the third party but on the insurance company: this was established by the Court of Justice of the European Union in a judgment filed on 30 April 2025 (Case C-370/24) in which the European judges also ordered the national courts to disapply the interpretation of Article 13 of Directive 2009/103 on insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, as suggested by the Court of Cassation, which placed the burden on the injured party.

It was the Court of Lodi that turned to the EU Court before ruling on the claim for damages made by a woman who had climbed into a car, later found to be stolen, involved in a road accident.

The insurance company, appointed by the Guarantee Fund, had rejected the petition, arguing that compensation can only be granted to persons transported whoare unaware that they are in a vehicle circulating illegally, observing that it is up to the injured party to prove that he or she was not aware of this circumstance, according to the Court of Cassation itself. This view is not shared by Luxembourg.

As a general rule - the EU Court clarified - according to Article 13 of the directive, the insurance company may not refuse to compensate third party victims of an accident even if the vehicle is driven by unauthorised persons, unless the injured passenger is aware that the vehicle was stolen. Nothing is said about the burden of proof. However, writes the Court, since Article 13, in providing for the exclusion from compensation, introduces an exception that must be interpreted restrictively because, otherwise, it would be permissible for "Member States to limit compensation to third party victims of a road accident", the burden of proof is on the insurance company and not on the third party transported.

On the other hand, this ensures a strengthening of the protection of accident victims by placing the burden of proof on the insurance company. And this also applies to the Compensation Fund, which in order to oppose compensation must prove that the injured party was aware that the vehicle was stolen and that the driver could not drive it.