SPAIN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Gonzalo Ardila, Margarita Morales, Fátima Mallén and Alberto Witzl, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader
has experience in complex matters in civil and commercial litigation, antitrust litigation and ESG- related litigation.
Hogan Lovells Cadwalader International Paseo de la Castellana 77 28040 Madrid Spain
Tel: +34 91 349 82 00 Fax: +34 91 349 82 01 Email: MadridOffice@hlc.com Web: www.hlc.com
Introduction Spain’s insurance litigation landscape is undergoing a period of remarkable transformation. A confluence of landmark judicial decisions, unprecedented systemic events, and evolving European regulatory frameworks is reshaping the boundaries of insured risk, redefining the allocation of liability, and compelling the market to reassess long-standing underwriting assumptions. The year 2026 has already delivered a series of devel- opments that will leave a lasting imprint on the sec- tor – developments that reflect both the increasing sophistication of the Spanish courts and the growing complexity of the risks that insurers are called upon to absorb. This edition of the guide examines four areas where the intersection of law, regulation and market practice is generating the most significant shifts. The first section addresses a question of profound importance for product liability insurance: whether a product recall, in and of itself, is capable of establish- ing that a product was defective at the time it was placed on the market. The Spanish Supreme Court’s recent judgment in cassation appeal No 8763/2024, delivered on 6 May 2026, has substantially relaxed the evidentiary requirements for proving defectiveness in cases where the product can no longer be physically
examined. By allowing defectiveness to be inferred from post-market surveillance data, safety notices, and voluntary withdrawal measures, the ruling edges the Spanish regime closer to a form of quasi-strict liability in the medical device sector – with far-reach- ing consequences for coverage, claims reserving, and the insurability of post-commercialisation regulatory conduct. The second section turns to what is arguably the most extraordinary loss event to affect the Spanish insur- ance market in recent memory: the nationwide power blackout of 28 April 2025. The incident left millions of consumers and businesses without electricity for several hours, triggering an unprecedented volume and variety of claims – from spoiled perishable goods and damaged industrial machinery to business inter- ruption losses across virtually every sector of the economy. With no definitive official determination of the blackout’s causes yet available, insurers and policyholders alike face acute uncertainty regarding coverage, exclusions, subrogation prospects and the potential role of the Spanish Insurance Compensa- tion Consortium. The discussion explores how this uncertainty is channelling disputes towards the courts and what that may mean for future systemic-event litigation.
217 I NSURANCE L I T IGATI O N 2026
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