The Legal Tech Helpcheck gets a tailwind for its business model.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt With its lawsuit against the Internet legal service provider Helpcheck, Nürnberger Versicherung is largely defeated. The start-up helps consumers to reverse their life insurance contracts. Since Helpcheck takes a contingency fee for this, the insurer sees a legal violation. The Regional Court (LG) Düsseldorf considers this part of the action to be unfounded, as can be seen from the judgment of October 21, 2021 (Az. 37 O 137/19).
With Helpcheck, insured persons can, among other things, have it checked whether a revocation of their pension or life insurance is possible. In general, this can be the case with contracts that were concluded between 1994 and 2007 and for which the insured was not properly informed about their right of withdrawal.
Consumers can then decide whether they want to sue with the help of the online portal. In the event of success, a commission of between 29.75 percent and 39.75 percent on the additional added value is due.
This bothers the Nürnberger Versicherung. Insurance advisors are generally not allowed to agree success fees, as the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) had decided in another judgment (Az. I RZ 19/19). In addition to the license under the Legal Services Act, Helpcheck also had a license as an insurance advisor in the past.
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This was intended to advise customers without legal expenses insurance on taking out such a policy. The company returned the license because “we don’t need it,” said Helpcheck managing director Peer Schulz to the Handelsblatt.
Nürnberger is checking whether she will appeal
According to the ruling, the judges have therefore not prohibited the company from offering services against a contingency fee. “It is important that the court has determined that Helpcheck has not provided any advice on life insurance in the past either,” adds Lutz Hartmann, who at Helpcheck deals with legal issues relating to the reversal of life insurance. “We only receive a fee for successfully reversing the contracts.” This is clearly a collection service and not insurance advice, Hartmann continues.
In the judgment, however, it says that it was not the subject of the dispute whether Helpcheck had to continue to register as an insurance advisor for its activity. The Nürnberger Versicherung complains: “Unfortunately, it remains to be seen whether the ban on offering services against a contingency fee does not apply simply because Helpcheck actually works as an insurance advisor,” says a company spokesman.
The Munich Higher Regional Court would have affirmed this in a similar case with another company (Az. 29 U 7047/19). The insurer is therefore currently checking whether “we are going to appeal the judgment”.
Helpcheck is no longer allowed to make certain advertising statements
In addition, Nürnberger Versicherung objected to several advertising statements from Legal Tech. The judges do not consider two of the claims to be justified either. The statement that the guaranteed interest rate often turns out to be a mistake is therefore permissible. Hartmann explains: “It is not clear to many consumers that the insurer only pays this interest on the part of the premiums that remains after deducting the costs.”
Nevertheless, consumers who want to reverse an old contract with good interest should check carefully whether it is worthwhile for them. This is usually better than a termination, but it can also make sense to let it continue.
The LG Düsseldorf also has no problem with statements that Helpcheck will make it easier for consumers to access the law. This does not, as criticized by Nürnberger, create the impression that the start-up is offering an overall package for law enforcement. On the website it becomes clear that Helpcheck cooperates with lawyers.
Nürnberger Versicherung achieved a partial success in the third point: Helpcheck had also advertised that consumers could receive an additional 10,200 euros per contract via the portal. Such allegations are to be omitted, as this creates the impression that Helpcheck has carried out a calculation based on concrete empirical values, according to the judgment. However, the company did not explain this in the process.
Here, “an important concern has been achieved: namely, to protect policyholders from decisions based on misconceptions,” emphasized the spokesman for the Nürnberger Versicherung. Helpcheck takes it calmly: “In the future, we will always focus on the respective individual case and not make any general statements,” says Hartmann.
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