Equitable Subrogation

Categories: Regulations, Insurance

Kind of sounds like you're trying to say something else, but that you're saying it while also eating a peanut butter sandwich. We're not sure just what you'd be trying to say...maybe "Equestrian Subjugation." That's a weird thing to say. Why would you say that?

"Equitable subrogation" is actually a real term that people say far more often than they say "equestrian subjugation." It's a legal term for when one party takes over certain rights from another by making a payment on their behalf.

Example.

You're injured in an accident that is someone else's fault (isn't it always?). They don't have insurance. Your insurance company pays for your medical bills. But they think the other person should pay, because the other person caused the accident. So the insurance company sues them.

Now, technically, the person who caused the accident didn't do anything to the insurance company. The insurance company wasn't injured in the accident. So what gives them the right to sue? The answer: equitable subrogation.

The insurance company paid out for your injuries. So they lost out because of the accident. By paying your health-related expenses, they received some of your rights and obligations, namely the ability to try to recoup their costs by suing the accident-causing goof who started the whole thing.

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