Tort Terms

Brien Roche

Subrogation exists where a payor such as an insurer recovers monies paid out to its insured or obligee under a policy. The recovery is from the at fault party

Subrogation Defined

For instance, if your health insurer pays money to you or to your doctors as a result of an auto crash caused by another then it has a right to recover that money. It makes a claim against any proceeds that you may be entitled to from your claim against the at fault party. In other words the insurer seeks to recover monies it paid on your behalf. Virginia state law bars subrogation in health policies. However that state law is superseded by the federal ERISA statute. However those health policies must be employer based. If your health insurance is through your employer the right of subrogation may stand. However the policy needs to be looked at to see if it complies with the federal law.

That right of subrogation also exists in liability claims. If your liability carrier pays out a claim under the uninsured motorist clause of your auto policy they may subrogate. This would be against the party at fault. They would sue that party for the amount paid to you. Policies that typically have subrogation clauses are health and liability policies. Also policies such as malpractice.

Equitable Subrogation

A subrogation clause exists in most policies. If it does not exist then insurers may still have a right of equitable subrogation. This allows the carrier to recover from the party deemed to be at fault based on equity.

For more info about other personal injury concepts see the other pages on this site. Also see the pages on Wikipedia for more info.