Insurance Law Issues Due to the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 (Part One)

Abstract

This article reviews legal issues concerning compensation under insurance contracts for the economic loss incurred by the major earthquake off the Pacific coast of northeast Japan on 11 March 2011. The earthquake (and tsunami) caused devastating damage to that region. The article’s first section gives readers an overview of damages caused by the earthquake, followed by general observations about how the insurance industry responded after the earthquake took place. The following section takes up specific issues relating to the earthquake. It first visits the issue of the interpretation of the exception clauses in property insurance with regard to thefts in the damaged area and then discusses a case where the exception clause in liability insurance was invoked and the causal link between the loss and the earthquake was disputed. The article concludes by highlighting what role the courts in Japan could play in the distribution of burdens from the natural disaster.

(The Editors)