Section 880: Subrogation of insurer

Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section

1. Supreme Court Judgment No. 5066/2560 (2017)

   An insurer that has paid the indemnity is subrogated by operation of section 880 paragraph one to the rights of the insured and the beneficiary against the wrongdoer, up to the amount paid. Later recovery of the insured property does not discharge the wrongdoer: it only mitigates the loss, and the insurer may sell the property and still recover the shortfall between the proceeds and the indemnity it paid.

   An insured car left at the defendants car-wash was released by an employee to the wrong person and lost. The insurer paid the beneficiary the full sum insured of 2,500,000 baht and took transfer of the car under the policy. The police later recovered the car during the trial; the insured waived its option to take it back, and the insurer auctioned it for 2,065,420.56 baht and sued for the 434,579.44 baht shortfall. The defendants argued that recovery of the car extinguished the claim under section 441. The Supreme Court held the employer liable under sections 427 and 821, that the insurer was subrogated under section 880 paragraph one on payment, that cover ended once the full sum insured was paid, and that recovery of the car merely mitigated the loss - so the shortfall was a direct consequence of the tort and the defendants were liable for it.

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2. Supreme Court Judgment No. 309/2562 (2019)

   A mutual waiver-of-subrogation clause between motor insurers waives claims only up to the third-party liability sum insured under the at-fault party's own policy. It is not a waiver of all claims, and the insurer remains subrogated under Section 880 for the excess.

   The insurer paid its insured and sued the at-fault driver. Both courts below dismissed for want of standing, holding that the inter-insurer waiver barred the claim. The Supreme Court reversed. The waiver agreement limits the mutual waiver to the third-party liability sum insured under the at-fault party's policy (600,000 baht), and clause 3 expressly leaves any excess to the Civil and Commercial Code, so the insurer was subrogated under Section 880 for the balance and recovered 120,024.30 baht.

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Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.