A direct-action lawsuit is brought directly against an

insurance company Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

for a wrong done by the insured. In a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

that is not direct-action, a

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

brings the claim against the insured, who actually wronged the plaintiff. Once

judgment Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to decision-making, make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct u ...

has been rendered against the

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...

, there are a number of ways that the insurance company (assuming the defendant is insured) might later be made to pay the victorious plaintiff. If the plaintiff wants to avoid the extra time and process required to eventually be paid by the insurance company, the action can be brought directly against the insurance company. The plaintiff must still prove all of the same facts that would be the plaintiff's burden, had the action been brought against the insured. In addition, the plaintiff must prove that the insured was covered by the insurance company, and that the

insurance policy In insurance, the insurance policy is a contract (generally a standard form contract) between the insurer and the policyholder, which determines the claims which the insurer is legally required to pay. In exchange for an initial payment, known as ...

covered the kind of wrong for which the plaintiff is seeking remedy. The insured is then treated as a third party to the litigation, and the insurance company itself is the defendant. This name can also be given to any lawsuit that is brought as a kind of

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

activism. One example can be a customer suing a company to repeal an action deemed an infringement on the rights of the customer as a citizen and thus a subject to federal or state law. The largest direct-action lawsuit in history ($333 million) was the subject matter of the motion picture ''

Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich (née Pattee; born June 22, 1960) is an American legal clerk, consumer advocate, and environmental activist who, despite her lack of education in the law, was instrumental in building a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Compan ...

''.

References

Lawsuits Tort law Insurance law {{law-term-stub