Comprehensive Consideration of the Compensation Requirements and Explanation Obligations of the Special Agreement on Liability for Daily Life Insurance - Focusing on the 2021na55269 judgment of the Cheongju District Court on December 22, 2022
Authors:   Korean Insurance Law Association, Kim Hyung Jin , Cho Gyu Seong 
Published: October 2024

Daily life liability insurance is a personal liability insurance sold in the form of a special agreement in addition to long-term insurance products. It is a very useful insurance product that covers damages due to general activities that can occur widely in everyday life with an inexpensive insurance premium of less than 1,000 won. At this time, the concept of 'daily life' means life in 'normal times', and is distinguished from 'job performance' that is for 'maintaining a living' or requires professional knowledge, experience, and skills. Of course, the scope of 'daily life' will be determined according to specific circumstances, but at least in the process of determining it, the group performance and homogeneity of the risk consisting of a large number of unspecified general policyholders should not be impaired.
In the case where the insured, who usually suffered from depression and paranoid schizophrenia, jumped from a high-rise building and shocked the victim (plaintiff), who just happened to pass under it, the damage caused by the insured's actions was judged as an accidental accident in the first trial. However, in the target judgment, it was judged that the act of the insured jumping out of the building with the intention of suicide or jumping off was not the “general act that may occur in everyday life” mentioned above, but was difficult to regard as being included in the category of “daily life”. The target judgment rejected the plaintiff's claim for damages, considering that it did not meet the former requirements among the usual life and accidental accidents, which are the representative compensation requirements of the daily life liability special agreement. The insured's above actions outside the certain boundaries of daily life are very valid in that they harm the homogeneity of insurance groups.
Furthermore, in this paper, an analysis is conducted to clearly distinguish the concepts of 'daily life' and 'job performance' of the special agreement for daily life liability through various lower court rulings, and the purpose and meaning of a number of reasons for indemnification are considered for each type. The results of this review are linked to the obligation to explain the terms and conditions, which are sharp disputes between the insurer and the insured in the stage of exemption and liability for compensation after an insurance accident.
Most of the reasons for exemption from the Special Agreement on Daily Liability for Compensation are subject to the obligation to explain as it directly affects the interests of the policyholder and determines whether or not to conclude a contract depending on whether or not to explain it. However, 'daily life' is a concept accepted by social norms as a daily activity of the general public. Even if the insurer does not explain separately, it is reasonable to assume that the insured can fully predict or understand the contents and is not subject to the obligation to explain. This is especially true considering that the Special Agreement on Daily Liability for Compensation, which is a liability guarantee incidental to long-term non-life insurance products, guarantees various risks in daily life with an insurance premium of less than 100 million won per month.