No compensation available for children who took their parents’ car

The correctional court sentences the driver to various penalties. However, it rejects the claim for compensation for the damage caused by the infringements expressed by the two passengers against the insurer of the vehicle. The parents of the injured children appeal the judgment’s provisions on the insurer’s exclusion from coverage. The Court of Appeal dismisses them.

The Court of Cassation upholds the appeal judgment and dismisses the appeal brought by the parents. Although the borrowing of the vehicle by children does not constitute theft within the meaning of criminal law (fraudulent misappropriation of property belonging to another), it does constitute theft under insurance law.

There is a family immunity between children and parents that does not allow for criminal proceedings to be brought against their children even though their vehicle has been taken fraudulently. Article L 211-1 of the Insurance Code, on the other hand, provides that, in the event of theft of a vehicle, the contracts do not cover compensation for damage suffered by the authors, co-authors or accomplices of a theft; this excludes the guarantee of insurance because the car was indeed used against the wishes of the parents.