JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Shinichiro Yamashita and Naruku Okamoto, Hiratsuka & Co
the law of the forum, and the insurance contract was therefore valid. 4.6 Late Payment and Claims Handling Practices Whilst the FSA has long monitored claims payment management systems of insurers, the “Comprehen- sive Supervisory Guidelines for Insurance Compa- nies”, which came into effect on 1 June 2026, require the executive in charge of the claims management department at a non-life insurance company to be a different person from the executive in charge of the sales department, and require the claims pay- ment operations to be conducted exclusively under the direction and control of the claims management department. Insurance companies are required to establish systems to ensure that the claims manage- ment department is not unduly influenced by the sales department. There have been no particular new developments recently regarding delays in insurance payments, from either a regulatory or litigation perspective, and published court precedents do not suggest that these developments are having any impact on insurance claims cases. 4.7 ESG and Climate-Related Coverage As far as can be ascertained from a review of pub- lished court cases in Japan, there is no evidence to suggest that ESG risks or climate change-related risks are giving rise to new types of coverage disputes. It is therefore unclear whether, and if so how, insurers are adapting their insurance policies and exclusions in light of such cases. It should be noted, however, that the development of renewable energy sources – such as solar, wind and biomass power generation – is proceeding with due regard to ESG and climate change risks. Japanese insurance companies are developing and selling insur-
by the insurance companies themselves, third-party administrators are not appointed or utilised. There have been cases in insurance claim litigation where it has been argued that the insurance agent had failed to fulfil their duty to provide information. 4.9 Financial Lines Coverage Trends A limited number of court precedents are published in Japan, so it is difficult to identify key trends in disputes over insurance coverage relating to directors’ and officers’ insurance, professional indemnity insurance and financial institution insurance. As policyholders present their arguments and evidence to have their claims upheld, whilst insurers put forward counter- arguments to have them dismissed, and the issues at stake vary depending on the specific case, it is difficult to identify any consistent trends. It can be said that shareholder derivative actions are on the rise in Japan compared to the past, but there is no data clearly showing how this is affecting insur- ance coverage. Similarly, there is no data clearly dem- onstrating the relationship between insurance cover- age and issues such as strengthened supervision or bankruptcy. 4.10 Casualty Coverage Trends Whilst the issues at stake in casualty coverage dis- putes vary widely from case to case, the fundamental issues remain unchanged, such as: • the interpretation of the insurance policy; • whether an event constitutes an insured event;
• the application of exclusion clauses; • breaches of the duty of disclosure; • causation; and • the amount of loss.
In terms of risk exposures, should major earthquakes or torrential rain occur, claims under fire and earth- quake insurance will increase, and so will the number of disputes. However, no correlation can be identified between an increase in the number of cases (chang- ing risk exposures) and a corresponding impact on coverage positions. In litigation concerning insurance claims, insurers present their arguments and contest the claims based on the facts of each individual case.
ance products tailored to such operators. 4.8 Delegated Authority and Claims Responsibility
In Japan, managing general agents with broad pow- ers are not appointed. Furthermore, as the assess- ment and payment of insurance claims are carried out
169 I NSURANCE L I T IGATI O N 2026
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