Liability of the Motor Insurers' Bureau for accidents in Europe

The compulsory motor insurance regime within the European Union ensures that the victim of a road traffic accident anywhere in the EU can bring a claim against the negligent driver’s motor insurers in the courts of the member state in which the victim is domiciled. As an alternative, the victim is entitled under EU rules to bring an action against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau established in the member state of the victim’s domicile. That right is extended to the situation in which the driver is uninsured or unidentified. The question in Jacobs v Motor Insurers’ Bureau [2010] EWCA Civ 1208 was whether the damages awardable to the victim by the MIB in a case involving an uninsured driver were to be assessed by the law of the country of his domicile or by the law of the country in which the accident occurred.

Jacobs: the facts

In December 2007 Mr Jacobs, who was domiciled in England, was injured in Spain by a vehicle driven by Mr Bartsch. The vehicle was registered in Spain and the driver lived either in Spain or Germany. Unfortunately Mr Bartsch was uninsured. Mr Jacobs, exercising his rights under the Fourth Motor Insurance Directive (European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/26/EC), as implemented into English law by the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (Information Centre and Compensation Body) Regulations 2003, commenced proceedings against the MIB. A dispute then arose as to the measure of damages payable by the MIB. The MIB asserted that the measure of damages was that laid down by the law of Spain, in accordance with the Rome II Regulation (Regulation 864/2007/EC on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations). Mr Jacobs argued for the English measure of damages by virtue of the provisions of the 2003 Regulations.