4.1 Conduct in the insured event, fulfilment of duties, Legal Expenses Insurance, Basis

Duties are all the rules of conduct that you and the insured persons must observe in order to keep the entitlement to cover.

4.1.1 What must you do if an insured event occurs and you need cover? 4.1.1.1 You must notify us of the insured event without undue delay, by telephone where appropriate. ("Without undue delay" does not necessarily mean "immediately", but "without culpable hesitation, that is, as quickly as reasonably possible".) 4.1.1.2 You must  inform us fully and truthfully about all the circumstances of the insured event, and  state all evidence, and  make documents available to us on request.

4.1.1.3 You must, as far as possible, agree measures that cause costs with us, so far as this is reasonable for you. (Examples of measures that cause costs: instructing a lawyer, bringing an action or lodging an appeal.) 4.1.1.4 When the insured event occurs, you must as far as possible take care to avert and reduce the loss, see section 82 of the German Insurance Contract Act (VVG).

4.1.2 We confirm to you the scope of cover that exists for the specific insured event. If, however, you take measures to enforce your legal interests  before we have confirmed the scope of cover, and  do such measures give rise to costs? German law applies to the contract. The German wording of the conditions alone is binding; this translation is provided for understanding only. Then we bear only the costs that we would have had to bear had cover been confirmed before these measures were initiated.

4.1.3 You may choose the lawyer. We choose the lawyer  if you request this, or  if you do not name a lawyer and the immediate instruction of a lawyer appears necessary to us. If we choose the lawyer, we instruct him in your name. We are not responsible for the work of the lawyer.

4.1.4 After instructing the lawyer you must do the following: inform your lawyer  fully and truthfully,  state the evidence,  provide the information possible,  obtain the necessary documents, and give us information on the status of your matter on request.

4.1.5 If you intentionally breach one of the duties named in 4.1.1 and 4.1.4, you lose your cover. In the event of a grossly negligent breach of a duty, we are entitled to reduce our benefit in proportion to the severity of your fault. (Example of "grossly negligent conduct": someone breaches the necessary care to an unusually high degree.) If you breach a duty to provide information or to clarify after the insured event has occurred, this too may lead to the complete or partial loss of cover. This presupposes, however, that we have previously informed you of these duties by separate notification in text form (example: letter or email). Cover remains in place if you prove that you did not breach the duties with gross negligence. Cover also remains in place in the following case: You prove that the breach of duty was not the cause  of the occurrence of the insured event,  of the establishment of the insured event, or  of the establishment or the scope of our benefit (for example: you did not agree the lodging of the appeal with us. On subsequent examination, however, we would have confirmed the assumption of costs even if it had been agreed in good time). Cover does not remain in place if you breached your duty fraudulently.

4.1.6 You may assign your claims to insurance benefits only with our consent. ("Assign" means: you transfer your claims to insurance benefits that you have against us to your lawyer or to another person.) Our consent must be given in text form. Exception: the requirement of consent does not apply if you have monetary claims against us (for example: you have exceptionally paid a court costs invoice in advance). If we are to release you from cost invoices not yet paid, there is no monetary claim.

4.1.7 If another person (for example: your opponent in the proceedings) must reimburse you costs of pursuing your rights, this claim passes to us. But only if we have already paid the costs. You must hand over to us the documents we need to enforce this claim. You must also cooperate in enforcing the claim if we so request. German law applies to the contract. The German wording of the conditions alone is binding; this translation is provided for understanding only. If you intentionally breach this duty and we therefore do not obtain reimbursement of these costs from the others, we need not reimburse any further costs beyond the costs already paid. If you acted with gross negligence, we are entitled to reduce the costs in proportion to the severity of your fault. You must prove that you did not act with gross negligence. (Example of "grossly negligent conduct": someone breaches the care required in ordinary dealings to an unusually high degree.) 4.1.8 Has another person (for example: your opponent in the proceedings) reimbursed you costs of pursuing your rights, and were these previously paid by us? Then you must repay these costs to us.