Liability rule failures? Evidence from german court decisions.

Liability Rule Failures? Evidence fromGerman Court DecisionsAnnika Pape∗May 7, 2014Since 2007, all insurance intermediaries face negligence liability that is sup-posed to reallocate risks and set economic incentives. Nonetheless, furthermeasures are taken to improve consumer protection. So, the question arisesdoes the liability rule influence the agents behavior, or not, and does it influ-ence in the intended way, or not? Do court cases provide evidence for failureof the current liability rule? Based upon an economic analysis of liabilityrules, aspects concerning potential failures can be derived. An analysis oftwelve verdicts suggests that understatement of intermediary responsibilityas well as a potential overstatement of the consumer responsibility yieldssuboptimal results. Often, missing documentation reinforces that tendency.