Insurance Coverage Disputes in the Ethiopian Construction Industry
| dc.contributor.advisor | Abebe, Dinku (Prof.) | |
| dc.contributor.author | Abel, Tezera | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-12-31T11:45:16Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-11-11T08:29:22Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-12-31T11:45:16Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-11-11T08:29:22Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018-06 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Risks associated with construction and the potential losses demand that insurance is an important aspect of construction work as a way of mitigating the risks. Currently, there is a growing body of interests in construction insurance, supporting interactions between the construction industry and the insurance industry. Internationally, the distinct types of insurance covers have increased the complexity of insurance, the contractual provisions and the nature of the claims made hence making it sensitive to disputes. Although, dispute resolution is a core concern of insurance law, unlike any other financial service provider, insurers' obligations are depending on events-such as fires, thefts, health problems, and litigations-which are often difficult to specify fully. Yet aggrieved policy holders need compensation quickly while insurers have a natural object and capacity to delay litigation as well as claims resolution generally complicating the dispute. The problem even becomes worse in an insurance industry like Ethiopia which is defied by lack of awareness of the participating parties about construction insurance and less intention of parties to use less costly ADR schemes. Consequently, the study conducted herein aims at addressing the issue of construction insurance coverage disputes in Ethiopia. Before any other step is taken then, it is crucial to first identify the causes and contributing factors of the disputes, the mechanisms used to solve them and finally propose a reliable strategy to help minimize the disputes by avoiding the causes before they happen (as a way of proactive measure) and recommending a consistent framework that entails processes and strategies to reduce court litigations by initiating and implementing Alternate Dispute Resolution approaches for the disputes with an ultimate goal of protecting both the insurance and construction industry. This study is conducted by analyzing fifteen practical court cases from the Federal Supreme Court (eleven cassation files and four appeal files) related to construction. To overcome the common downside of case study, which it involves smaller sample size and inadequate of persuasion, the result of the case study was checked by interviewing of the eight insurance companies in the cases to ensure the validity of the research. Intensive literature and document review was also conducted to have a basic understanding on insurance principles, types of construction insurances, legal foundations, claim management, dispute resolution and international and local construction insurance practices as presented in their respective chapters and subchapters. Therefore, it was found in this research that motor insurances are frequently leading to disputes in Ethiopia followed by performance bonds and marine insurances respectively. The first cause of the dispute for the insurance coverage disputes in construction identified in this research is conflict of laws in trying to settle a claim followed by failure to proof loss (both in amount and supporting documents). Then comes performance bond forfeiture claims followed by disagreement on whether a claim should be barred by limitation (period of limitation). It was implied from this research that the insurance companies’ mind is set to ‘protecting the businesses’ and their enthusiasm to pay all genuine claims (if made) is questionable. Intra industry dispute resolution schemes which are practiced in different developed countries aren’t available and they should be designed in our country too. It can be said that the use of Alternative Dispute Resolutions in construction insurance and guarantee disputes is often overlooked although there are some efforts. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/15376 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
| dc.publisher | AAU | en_US |
| dc.subject | Alternative Dispute Resolution | en_US |
| dc.subject | Claim Management | en_US |
| dc.subject | Dispute | en_US |
| dc.subject | Dispute Resolution | en_US |
| dc.subject | Insurance Coverage Disputes | en_US |
| dc.title | Insurance Coverage Disputes in the Ethiopian Construction Industry | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |