2024-04-12 18:09:31
The Bucharest Court of Appeal won the case on Friday, April 12, 2024, to the insurers who requested the annulment of the Cioloș Government Decision from 2016 that capped RCA tariffs for a period of six months, against the backdrop of price increases after the bankruptcies of Astra and Carpatica. The government will now appeal the decision to the High Court. If it definitively loses this litigation, the state risks paying damages of tens of millions of lei separately requested in court by the insurers.
RCA protest of transporters in 2016Photo: Hotnews
What the Court of Appeal decided: Beyond the cancellation of the 2016 Decision, the Government would also have to pay court costs
Court of Appeal Bucharest he admitted on Friday the request made by six insurers: Asirom VIG, Generali, Grawe, Groupama, Omniasig VIG and Uniqa for the annulment of Government Decision no. 826/2016 which capped RCA prices for 6 months, after the bankruptcy of Astra Asigurări.
In addition, the Government is obliged to pay 183,760 lei, court costs to the six insurers.
The decision is not final. The Ciolacu government has 15 days to challenge it at the High Court
The Government, the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Supervision Authority (ASF), defendants in this case, can appeal within 15 days from the communication of the decision.
Government sources told HotNews.ro on Friday that the Government will appeal this decision to the High Court of Cassation and Justice.
How it all started: With the exception of Euroins, all insurers accused the Government of forcing them to sell RCA at prices that bankrupted Astra and Carpatica
The litigation has begun in April 2017when 8 insurers sued the state demanding the annulment of the Cioloș Government’s Decision from the fall of 2016 to cap RCA prices for 6 months, after the transporters’ protests against the background of price increases after Astra Asigurări’s bankruptcy.
- The eight insurers were the following: Allianz-țiriac Asigurări, Asirom, Euroins, Generali, Grawe, Groupama, Omniasig and Uniqa.
With the exception of Euroins, the other 7 insurers separately opened other cases in court in which they requested compensation for allegedly being forced to sell RCA policies at prices which, in the case of other companies, such as Astra and Carpatica, led to their bankruptcy, as wrote then exclusively HotNews.ro.
The data from this file consulted at the time by HotNews.ro showed that the 7 insurers requested the Government to pay cumulative damages of over 56.2 million lei, as follows:
As in the original file, in which these seven insurers together with Euroins request the annulment of Government Decision 826/2016 which established maximum rates at RCA for a period of 6 months, the law firm representing the insurance companies is SCA Zamfirescu Racoți & Partners, through lawyers Călin Zamfirescu and Cosmin Vasile, according to the file consulted on Thursday, August 9, 2018, by HotNews.ro.
The state won at the Court of Appeal, but the insurers obtained a retrial of this case at the High Court
The state won this litigation at first instance, after the Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected the insurers’ claim in August 2021.
With the exception of Allianz-Țiriac Asigurări, the other 7 insurers appealed to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, which last fall decided to resend this file for retrial to the Court of Appeal, as informed Profit.ro.
That’s how it ended up in January 2024 to reopen this filein which the Court of Appeal admitted on Friday, April 12, 2024, the request made by six insurers: Asirom VIG, Generali, Grawe, Groupama, Omniasig VIG and Uniqa.
Entered into bankruptcy proceedings, Euroins was first represented by the interim administrator Fondul de Garantare a Azigutilor (FGA) and later by CITR – the judicial liquidator, who later withdrew from the process.
RCA prices have been capped for over a year due to the bankruptcy of Euroins, decisions taken by Ciucă and then by Ciolacu
8 years after the capping of RCA prices by the Ciolos Government, things have not changed much in the RCA market.
While the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) Another major RCA bankruptcy came in April 2022 to City Insurance, and in March 2023 its operating authorization was withdrawn and Euroins, which is now in bankruptcy proceedings.
These last two bankruptcies occurred while the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) was headed by Nicu Marcu.
Last year, eight of the nine members of the former ASF management received two bonuses each – one for performance and one for the ASF Day – between 11,500 euros and 24,500 euros, bonuses stipulated in the Collective Labor Agreement, show the Authority’s data. Nicu Marcu, the former president of ASF, collected the most money – 122,262 lei (cc. 24,500 euros).
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