Nater Dallafior's expert on insurance law Benjamin Schumacher published an article on notification duties in the realm of claims-made policies in Switzerland's leading journal for insurance law (HAVE - Haftung und Versicherung, vol. 3/2020).

The article discusses a decision recently rendered by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. The decision concerned the question of the legal consequences of an insured's non-compliance with the contractual duty to notify a claim to the insurer. Among the main conclusions is that non-compliance with notification requirements does not result in a forfeiture of the insured's coverage claim unless the insurance policy explicitly provides for forfeiture as a legal consequence. Rather, non-compliance with notification requirements may only result in a reduction of coverage provided that such non-compliance was causal, i.e. the insurer bears the burden of proof that the insurance cover would have been lower if the insured's notification had been on time. Again, the parties to the insurance policy can only waive the causality requirement by an express provision contained in the insurance policy.