The problem of under compensation of victims of cross-border road traffic accidents in the EU

The current acts in place – the Brussels I Regulation, the Lugano Convention and the parallel convention with Denmark – give the claimant several opportunities for forum shopping when lodging a direct claim against foreign liability insurance. Since the lex fori determines whether the Rome II Regulation or the Hague Convention is applicable in Common Market cases, the aforementioned possibility of forum shopping ultimately leads to law shopping. Between the claimant and the injuring party, the principle lex loci delicti should be maintained. Applying the law of the victim’s residence would cause unforeseeable results and enormous costs for the offending party. The question, whether the claimant should generally be awarded a direct claim is a matter of secondary EU legislation, i.e. the question is treated equally in every Member State. For that reason, making this last question dependent on the lex fori is legitimate.