Ignored Precedent: Insurance Board Decisions Completely Overlooked
8/10Ignored Precedent (EN)
What Is Board Precedent?
The Danish Insurance Complaints Board (Ankenævnet for Forsikring) is the Danish complaint body for insurance cases. The Board's decisions are advisory but insurers are expected to follow them — and deviations must be justified.
The Board has in previous decisions established that title insurance can cover cleanup of hidden environmental conditions — including buried waste and contamination — when discovered after taking ownership of a property. This precedent is directly relevant to Case 4, where the Claimant found buried asbestos roof tiles on the property.
What Gjensidige Did
In rejecting Case 4, Gjensidige did not address relevant Board precedent at all. There was no reference to previous decisions, no argument for why the precedent didn't apply, and no explanation of how the case differed from similar rulings.
Gjensidige simply ignored it.
Why This Is Problematic
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The precedent exists: The Board has ruled on cases involving hidden environmental conditions under title insurance — precisely the scenario Case 4 concerns (buried asbestos found after property purchase)
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Insurers know the decisions: Gjensidige has a legal department that actively monitors Board decisions. Overlooking directly relevant precedent requires either incompetence or deliberate ignorance
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No justification for deviation: Even if Gjensidige believed relevant precedent did not apply to Case 4, they should have addressed it and explained why. Ignoring it completely indicates they did not want to acknowledge its existence
The Pattern
When an insurer ignores directly relevant Board precedent, it sends a signal: Precedent is only relevant when it favors the insurer. When precedent supports the consumer, it does not exist.
Good Insurance Practice
Good insurance practice requires insurers to address relevant practice from the Insurance Complaints Board. Ignoring directly relevant precedent is a breach of this expectation — and it undermines trust in the entire complaint system.
If insurers can freely ignore Board decisions, the complaint system loses its function as consumer protection.