Constitutional Court repeals one-year insurance deadline

Anyone claiming an insurance benefit who receives a qualified refusal must sue within one year under § 12 Abs 3 VersVG; otherwise the claim is lost, however justified it was. The Constitutional Court struck down this special rule as unconstitutional by ruling of 28 April 2026, G 176/2025; the repeal takes effect at the end of 31 May 2027.

The reasoning

The court found a violation of the principle of equality. The provision effectively gave the insurer the choice of whether the general three-year limitation period applied to the claim or a drastically shortened one, triggered by its own letter of refusal. Such unilateral power over the limitation period of the other contracting party could not be objectively justified.

What applies now

The court gave the legislator until 31 May 2027. Until then § 12 Abs 3 VersVG remains in force and, under Art 140 Abs 7 B-VG, applies to every refusal issued up to that day; only the case that triggered the review is exempt. Anyone receiving a qualified refusal today must therefore still sue within one year. Only for later cases does the general three-year limitation period apply on its own, unless the legislator enacts a new rule beforehand. Anyone who missed the one-year deadline in the past cannot rely on the repeal; what remains to be examined is whether the refusal met the requirements of § 12 Abs 3 VersVG and whether the period was suspended.

Practical consequences

• Policyholders gain time and negotiating room from June 2027; until then the one-year deadline after a qualified refusal must still be met.
• Refused claims are to be measured against whether the refusal complied with the form and the warning of consequences required by § 12 Abs 3 VersVG; only then did the period start at all.
• Businesses have reason to review their claims files for running one-year deadlines; particularly with business interruption, legal expenses and building insurance, claims frequently failed on the short deadline alone.