Farmer did not receive compensation from the State natural damage scheme

In the spring of 2017, a farmer in Innlandet county discovered settlement damage in a manure cellar that was built in 2014–2015. Geotechnical investigations showed that the main cause of the settlement damage was special ground conditions in the form of peat beneath moraine soil, which was compressed as the manure cellar was filled up.

After being denied compensation by the insurance company, the injured farmer filed a claim against the State natural damage scheme.

The Supreme Court concluded that the farmer was not entitled to compensation from the state scheme. The majority interpreted the Natural Damage Compensation Act to mean that natural damage directly caused by a natural disaster entitles compensation from the State scheme when the damage cannot be insured against under a regular insurance scheme. This last condition is met here. However, as the cause of the damage to the manure cellar clearly could not classified as a natural disaster, the farmer was not entitled to compensation.

One justice argued that the result also followed from the Natural Damage Compensation Act's lack of a basis for claims against the State scheme for items coverable under a regular insurance, regardless of whether the specific damage falls outside the insurance coverage.

Read the judgment from the Supreme Court (Norwegian only) (PDF)

Justices: Webster, Ringnes, Falch, Thyness, Sivertsen

Area of law: Natural damage compensation

Key paragraphs: 44-49, 60-62