Insurance Lawyers in Vietnam – Claims, Recovery & Litigation

Vietnam insurance lawyers are usually instructed at one of three moments: an insurer has declined a claim, an insurer has offered far less than the loss, or a payment has simply stopped moving. This page sets out how each of those situations is decided under Vietnamese law, which deadlines bind you, and what UniLaw does on a file. Where negotiation fails, the file becomes insurance litigation in Vietnam, and we run that too: evidence, quantum, the court or arbitration route, and recovery from the insurer or the party at fault.

The firm acts for corporate policyholders, cargo interests, shipowners, insurers, reinsurers and brokers with exposure in Vietnam. The working languages are Vietnamese and English.

A decided case Vietnam insurance lawyers point to

Judgment No. 05/2025/KDTM-PT of 26 September 2025 — Court of Appeal of the Supreme People’s Court in Da Nang, “Dispute over a construction insurance contract”.

An insured construction company sued its insurer over a declined construction policy. The first-instance court in Da Nang decided the case in June 2025. On appeal, the parties reached terms at the hearing itself, and the Court of Appeal amended the first-instance judgment under Article 300 of the Civil Procedure Code to record the settlement: the insurer to pay VND 16.1 billion immediately after the appeal hearing, with default interest under Article 357 and Article 468(2) of the Civil Code running from the date of any enforcement request if payment is late.

Two things Vietnam insurance lawyers take from it. A declined construction claim of this size is worth appealing — the number moved at the appellate stage, not before it. And the interest clock is statutory: once the award is in place, late payment carries interest whether or not the policy says so.

The reasoning in decided insurance cases is published on case.unilaw.vn.

The legal basis Vietnam insurance lawyers work from

Everything below is read against these instruments:

• Law on Insurance Business, Law No. 08/2022/QH15 — the governing statute: Article 19 (exclusions), Article 22 (disclosure), Article 30 (the one-year limitation, running from the insured event), Article 31, Articles 43 to 51 (cover), Article 57.
• Maritime Code, consolidated as No. 52/VBHN-VPQH — marine insurance, hull, cargo and general average.
• Decree No. 46/2023/ND-CP, Decree No. 21/2023/ND-CP, Decree No. 67/2023/ND-CP and Circular No. 67/2023/TT-BTC — implementation, compulsory lines and financial rules.
• Commercial Law, consolidated as No. 113/VBHN-VPQH of 27 August 2025 — commercial remedies, and the two-year limitation in Article 319 where the claim is framed in contract.
• Civil Procedure Code, consolidated as No. 21/VBHN-VPQH of 12 February 2026, or the Law on Commercial Arbitration, consolidated as No. 60/VBHN-VPQH of 15 August 2025 — depending on the forum in the policy.

When should a business instruct Vietnam insurance lawyers?

Instruct early if any of these has happened: the insurer has asked for a written explanation of a discrepancy in the proposal form; a surveyor has been appointed and you have not seen the terms of reference; the insurer has raised an exclusion clause; a third party is threatening proceedings that may fall within the policy; or the anniversary of the loss is approaching.

The single most common reason a good claim fails in Vietnam is not the merits. It is the one-year filing deadline in Article 30 of the Law on Insurance Business No 08/2022/QH15, which runs from the date of the insured event, not from the date the insurer refuses.

A denied claim: the three questions that decide it

Almost every declinature in Vietnam turns on one of three questions, and each has a different statutory home.

Was the loss inside cover? That is a question of the policy wording read against Articles 43 to 51 of Law No 08/2022/QH15 for property and damage cover, or against Article 57 for liability cover.

Does an exclusion apply? Article 19 governs, and it places a real burden on the insurer, described in the next section.

Was disclosure adequate? Article 22 governs, and the threshold is higher than most insureds expect.

Exclusion clauses: Article 19 and the burden it puts on the insurer

Article 19 of Law No 08/2022/QH15 does not simply allow an insurer to rely on whatever is printed in the wording. Clause 2 requires the insurer to state the exclusion clearly in the contract, to explain it fully, and to hold evidence confirming that the policyholder was given that full explanation and understood it at the time of contracting.

That evidential requirement is where many declinatures fall down. If the insurer cannot produce the record of explanation, the exclusion is exposed.

Clause 3 adds a second protection. Where force majeure or an objective obstacle caused the policyholder to notify the insured event late, the insurer may not apply a late-notification exclusion at all.

Disclosure disputes: what Article 22 actually requires

Article 22 is symmetrical, and insureds often forget the half that protects them. Clause 1 obliges the insurer to give full and accurate information about the contract and to explain the conditions and terms; it obliges the policyholder to give full and truthful information about the subject matter of the insurance.

Clause 2 lets the insurer cancel the contract only where the policyholder deliberately gave incomplete or false information in order to obtain cover and be paid. Carelessness is not the test the statute sets. Where cancellation is justified, the insurer must still return the premium after deducting reasonable agreed costs.

Clause 3 runs the other way. If the insurer deliberately failed to give information or gave false information in order to conclude the contract, the policyholder may cancel, recover the premium paid, and claim damages.

Two deadlines Vietnam insurance lawyers check first

Article 30 sets the filing deadline: one year from the date of the insured event. Time during force majeure or an objective obstacle does not count. Where the insured or beneficiary proves they did not know when the event occurred, the year runs from the date they knew. Where a third party claims against the policyholder for a loss within cover, the year runs from the date of that third-party demand.

Article 31 sets the payment deadline. The insurer must pay within the period agreed in the policy. If the policy is silent, the insurer must pay within fifteen days of receiving a complete and valid claim file. Late payment carries interest on the outstanding amount for the period of delay, at the rate the parties agree under the Civil Code.

Those two provisions decide a large share of Vietnamese insurance disputes before anyone reaches the merits.

Marine insurance sits under a different statute

A marine policy is not governed by the Law on Insurance Business alone. Chapter XVIII of the Maritime Code, consolidated as No 52/VBHN-VPQH, governs it directly, and the two regimes do not align on every point.

Article 303 defines a marine insurance contract and defines maritime perils expressly: perils of the sea, fire, explosion, war, piracy, theft, seizure, restraint, detention, jettison, requisition, expropriation, compulsory purchase, unlawful acts and similar perils, plus any other peril the parties agree. Article 303 clause 3 requires the contract to be made in writing.

Article 308 sets the disclosure duty in marine cover and it is wider than the general regime: the insured must disclose everything they know or ought to know that may affect the assessment of the risk or the insurer’s decision, except what is common knowledge or what the insurer knew or ought to have known. That duty extends to the insured’s representative.

The limitation period differs too. Article 336 gives two years from the date the dispute arises for a claim under a marine insurance contract, against the one-year filing window in Article 30 of Law No 08/2022/QH15. Getting this distinction wrong is the fastest way to lose a recoverable claim.

Cargo, hull and P&I claims

A cargo file usually runs on two tracks at once: the claim against the insurer, and the recovery against the carrier. The second track has its own clock. Article 169 of the Maritime Code gives one year from the date the goods were delivered or should have been delivered for a claim for damage to or loss of goods.

Practical consequence: an insurer may still be considering a cargo claim when the recovery action against the carrier has already expired. Both clocks are diarised at the outset of a UniLaw file.

Subrogation: how Vietnam insurance lawyers protect recovery rights

Article 54 of Law No 08/2022/QH15 governs the transfer of the recovery right. After the insurer pays, the insured must transfer to the insurer the right to claim reimbursement from the responsible third party. If the insured refuses to transfer that right, clause 1(b) allows the insurer to deduct from the indemnity according to the degree of the insured’s fault.

Clause 2 requires the insured to provide the documents and information the insurer needs to pursue the third party. Clause 3 carves out family members: the insurer may not seek reimbursement from the insured’s parents, spouse or children, unless those persons caused the loss deliberately.

Insurers instructing Vietnam insurance lawyers on recovery should preserve survey evidence and the chain of custody from the first day, because the third party will test both.

Compulsory insurance lines in Vietnam

Decree No 67/2023/ND-CP dated 6 September 2023 governs compulsory motor third-party liability insurance, compulsory fire and explosion insurance, and compulsory insurance in construction investment activity. Disputes in these lines are decided against the decree’s own conditions, not only against the policy wording.

Decree No 21/2023/ND-CP dated 5 May 2023 governs microinsurance, which has a separate regulatory perimeter.

Decree No 46/2023/ND-CP dated 1 July 2023 details the Law on Insurance Business, including the classification of life, non-life and health insurance operations in Articles 3 to 5 and the licensing conditions from Article 11. Circular No 67/2023/TT-BTC dated 2 November 2023 guides both instruments; Articles 11 and 12 deal with the scope of cover and with policy rules, conditions and terms.

Limits of liability and the insurer’s right to defend

Article 59 of Law No 08/2022/QH15 sets the limit of liability in liability insurance, and Article 60 gives the insurer the right to represent the insured. Both are worth checking before the insured concedes anything to a third party.

Where Vietnam insurance lawyers take the dispute: court or arbitration

Article 32 of Law No 08/2022/QH15 sets the route: negotiation first; if that fails, mediation, arbitration or the court, according to the policy and the law.

Where the policy carries an arbitration clause, the Law on Commercial Arbitration, consolidated as No 60/VBHN-VPQH, applies. Article 16 requires the arbitration agreement to be made in writing. Article 5 governs the conditions for resolving a dispute by arbitration.

Where the file goes to court, the Civil Procedure Code, consolidated as No 21/VBHN-VPQH, sets jurisdiction in Articles 30, 35 and 37, and Articles 469 to 472 govern cases with a foreign element.

Marine disputes have their own regime. Article 338 of the Maritime Code lets parties negotiate or bring the dispute to arbitration or a competent court. Article 339 is the provision foreign parties should read: where at least one party is a foreign organisation or individual, the parties may agree to resolve the dispute by arbitration or a court abroad. Where all parties are foreign and have agreed in writing on Vietnamese arbitration, Vietnamese arbitration has jurisdiction even if the dispute arose outside Vietnam.

For commercial claims outside the insurance contract itself, Article 319 of the Commercial Law, consolidated as No 113/VBHN-VPQH, gives two years from the date the lawful right and interest was infringed.

Limitation periods at a glance

These are the periods Vietnam insurance lawyers diarise on day one of a file:

• One year to file the claim with the insurer, from the insured event — Article 30, Law No 08/2022/QH15.
• Fifteen days for the insurer to pay a complete file, where the policy is silent — Article 31.
• Two years to sue on a marine insurance contract, from the date the dispute arose — Article 336, Maritime Code No 52/VBHN-VPQH.
• One year to sue the carrier for cargo damage or loss, from delivery or the date delivery should have occurred — Article 169, Maritime Code.
• Two years for a commercial dispute, from infringement — Article 319, Commercial Law No 113/VBHN-VPQH.

Reinsurance does not change who owes the policyholder

Article 29 of Law No 08/2022/QH15 states the rule plainly: the insurer is solely liable to the policyholder under the policy, including where it has reinsured the risks it accepted. The insurer may not refuse or delay performance towards the policyholder even where the reinsurer fails to pay it.

Two consequences follow. Clause 2: the reinsurer may not require the policyholder to pay premium directly to it, unless the policy says otherwise. Clause 3: the policyholder may not claim indemnity directly from the reinsurer, unless the policy says otherwise.

Where a Vietnamese risk sits in a global programme with a local fronting insurer, this article is the first one to read.

When a policy can be treated as void

Article 25 lists the grounds on which an insurance contract is void. The ones that appear most often in commercial files are: the policyholder had no insurable interest at the time of contracting; there was no subject matter of insurance at that time; the policyholder already knew the insured event had occurred; or the contract was concluded by deception, except in the situation Article 22 already covers.

An insurer raising Article 25 is making a different argument from one raising Article 19 or Article 22, and the answer to each is different. Establishing which argument is actually being run is the first step.

What Vietnam insurance lawyers look for in the loss adjustment file

Article 53 puts the survey in the insurer’s hands and the cost on the insurer. But clause 2 is the provision policyholders under-use: where the parties disagree on the cause and the extent of the loss, they may agree to appoint an independent surveyor. If they cannot agree on the appointment, either party may ask the competent court or the arbitral tribunal to appoint one, and the independent surveyor’s conclusion binds both parties.

That is a real lever. A policyholder facing a survey it considers wrong is not limited to arguing about it.

Article 46 governs notification of the insured event, and it cuts both ways. Clause 1 lets the insurer reduce the indemnity in proportion to the prejudice caused by late notification. Clause 2 removes that right entirely where the policy contains no agreed term on the policyholder’s notification duty and the consequences of breaching it. Many policies in the market do not.

Article 49 deals with double insurance, where the total sums insured exceed the market value of the property. Indemnity is then shared pro rata across the policies, and the total may not exceed the actual loss.

What to send when instructing Vietnam insurance lawyers

A first assessment is faster and more accurate with these items:

• The policy, the schedule and the wording actually attached, not the brochure.
• The proposal form or the information the broker submitted.
• The date of the insured event, and the date it became known.
• The declinature or reduction letter, with the provision the insurer relies on.
• The survey report and any correspondence about appointing the surveyor.
• Evidence of notification to the insurer and its date.
• For cargo, the bill of lading, the delivery record and the notice to the carrier.
• Any third party who may be liable, and what has been said to them.

If some items are missing, send what exists. The limitation analysis can usually be done on the date of loss alone.

Insurance law research map

Related reading on this site, grouped by the question it answers:

• Insurance law lawyer in Vietnam — the general overview of the regime.
• Commercial property insurance disputes — when the asset is the subject matter.
• Bad faith claim handling — where the conduct of the insurer is the issue.
• Income protection: rights, claims, steps.
• Life insurance · Health insurance · Disability insurance · Medical insurance.
• Insurance claim denial — when a refusal fails on the policy file.
• Auto insurance claims · Car insurance claims — motor lines.
• ATE insurance.
• Category index: Insurance Law.

Judgments UniLaw has analysed, including insurance and cargo decisions, are published at case.unilaw.vn.

Other expertise you may find relevant

• Vietnam maritime lawyers — hull, cargo, charterparty and ship arrest.
• Vietnam corporate lawyers — where the insured is a group company.
• Vietnam investment lawyers — construction and project cover.
• Vietnam real estate lawyers — property, construction and project cover.
• Vietnam M&A lawyers — warranty and indemnity cover on a transaction.

How UniLaw handles an insurance instruction

First, the two clocks are fixed: the Article 30 filing date and, where relevant, the Article 336 or Article 169 limitation date. Nothing else starts until those are on the file.

Second, the policy is read against the statute rather than against practice, and the insurer is asked to identify the exact provision it relies on.

Third, where an exclusion is raised, the firm requests the Article 19 clause 2 evidence of explanation.

Fourth, the recovery position against any third party is assessed before the indemnity is accepted, because Article 54 transfers that right on payment.

Fifth, the forum is settled — negotiation, mediation, arbitration or court — and the file is built for that forum from the start.

Request an initial assessment from Vietnam insurance lawyers

Send a short description of the loss, the policy, any declinature letter, the survey report if one exists, and the date of the insured event. UniLaw will tell you whether the claim is still within time, what the insurer must prove, and what the next step is.

Fees are agreed in a written legal services contract before work begins, with the scope and the basis of charging set out in it.

Offices: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang. Email legal@unilaw.vn.

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