Is injury compensation inequitable? Evidence from road accidents victims in France

Abstract

This article analyses the heterogeneous character of compensation amounts awarded by insurance companies and the courts. The information source – the Association for Insurance Risk Information (AGIRA) database – covers all surviving victims of injuries resulting from road accidents in France over the period 2002 to 2008. Three results emerge: first, compensation amounts awarded under different headings – Partial Permanent Incapacity (PPI), solatium (emotional harm), disfigurement and loss of amenity – are not determined independently of each other; second, victim characteristics, notably age and sex, play a major part; and third, inequalities of treatment across the country are strikingly low.

Keywords:

• compensation
• spatial inequalities
• road safety

JEL Classification:

• I19
• K32
• K41

Notes

¹ Cour de Cassation Civile, 28 October 1954, JCP, 1955, II, note R. Savatier.

² A court of appeal district is made up of a number of complete departments.

³ This enables us to establish that the change in compensation sums according to severity of injury is not linear.