DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Josefine Movin Østergaard and Johannes Hedegaard, Bruun & Hjejle
PI Disputes A similar pattern can be observed in liability cases against professional advisers, such as lawyers and auditors, with a growing tendency to hold such advis- ers liable. For example, the Danish tax authorities recently brought a claim exceeding DKK700 million against a law firm that had issued a legal opinion on the pos- sibility of reclaiming withholding tax. This opinion was subsequently used by a foreign bank to make unjusti- fied refund claims against the Danish tax authorities, resulting in a historic loss for the Danish State. In the autumn of 2023, the Danish Supreme Court found the law firm liable for DKK400 million in damages (judg- ment published in UfR 2024.764 H). As a consequence of the increasing number of claims against auditors, several insurers in Denmark have withdrawn from offering PI coverage to auditors, and premiums have increased significantly. 4.10 Casualty Coverage Trends Casualty coverage disputes in Denmark reflect chang- ing risk exposures and new types of loss. In commercial and product liability insurance, series- loss clauses – treating all claims from the same liability-triggering circumstance as a single insured event – generate extensive disputes over when a loss occurred and whether claims should be aggregated or treated separately. There is also increasing focus on the precise scope of coverage as new risk categories emerge, including environmental liability, product liability and cyber inci- dents. Disputes increasingly arise over whether such risks fall within existing coverage or require bespoke policies. Rising frequency and severity of claims for personal injury, environmental damage, and serial defects have prompted insurers to reassess coverage and subro- gation positions. Many insurers have entered mutual agreements to waive or limit subrogation rights, reduc- ing administrative costs and inter-insurer litigation.
A particularly significant development in workers’ compensation is the Supreme Court judgment of 28 April 2026 concerning the threshold for loss-of- earning-capacity compensation under Section 17 of the Danish Workers’ Compensation Act ( arbe- jdsskadesikringsloven ). The judgment overruled the previous practice of Arbejdsmarkedets Erhvervssikring and Ankestyrelsen , which had denied compensation where the loss of earning capacity was below approxi- mately 15%. The Supreme Court set the lower thresh- old ( bagatelgrænsen ) at 5%, meaning that injured workers with a loss of earning capacity between 5% and 14% may now be entitled to compensation. The immediate consequence is that a very large number of workers’ compensation cases – dating back up to 30 years – must be reopened and reassessed. This ruling is expected to have substantial implications for insur- ers writing workers’ compensation coverage, both in terms of reserve adjustments for historical claims and increased exposure going forward. Danish insureds face significant liability exposure across several insurance lines, with claims of increas- ing complexity and value. The principal areas of expo- sure include professional indemnity (PI), Directors’ and Officers’ (D&O) insurance, Commercial General Liabil- ity (CGL) and Warranty & Indemnity (W&I). In terms of CGL, insureds operating in the commercial and industrial sectors face third-party claims for bod- ily injury, property damage, and related losses. CGL policies respond to these exposures and, as with PI and D&O insurance, the complexity and documenta- tion burden of defending such claims have increased. 5.2 Shifting Risk Landscape The liability risk landscape for Danish insureds is in transition, driven by factors that may give rise to new categories of claims. 5. Claims Against Insureds 5.1 Key Exposure Areas for Insureds AI and automated decision-making systems are cre- ating new grounds for liability. Where AI causes loss – through erroneous advice, algorithmic deficiencies, or defective output – novel questions arise regarding
96 I NSURANCE L I T IGATI O N 2026
CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook