Insurance company's right to recourse

Justices: Møse, Kallerud, Østensen Berglund, Thyness, Sverdrup

A residential property had been sold with a defect. The buyers' insurance company had covered the expenses they had incurred before the legal proceedings to document the seller's liability for defects. The Supreme Court found that the insurance company could claim the amount covered by the sellers' insurance company under the seller's transfer of ownership insurance. After discussing the history of the law and preparatory works, the Supreme Court found that the general starting point that the right to recourse in a contractual relationship was not regulated by section 4-3 cf. section 4-2 of the Compensatory Damages Act, had not been abandoned in the preparatory works. These provisions did thus not limit the buyers' insurance company's right to claim recourse for costs of expert advice that the company had covered for a policyholder that was entitled to compensation under the rules of the Alienation Act. The claim for recourse was thus not precluded.