The signature of the specific conditions alone may mean, under certain conditions, the overall acceptance by the insured of the contractual documents that he has not signed.
Indeed, as specified above, the High court accepts that the proof of such acceptance may result from a mention in the primary insurance policy, according to which the insured “accepts” or ” acknowledges having read and accepted the clauses contained in the annex attached to the policy n°…. “or” in the special conditions of which he has received the copy”, or “acknowledges being in possession of the Special Conditions and General Conditions of which he has received the copy”.
The Court of Cassation requires that the insured person demonstrate, in an unequivocal and unambiguous manner, the acceptance of unsigned documents.
This was reaffirmed by the Court of Cassation, for example, in a judgment of 3 March 2011 rendered by the 2nd Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation (appeal : 10-11826) :
Having regard to article 1134 of the Civil code ;
Whereas in order to refuse to apply the forfeiture clause provided for in the general conditions of the contract, the judgment holds that the insurer is unable to produce at the debates a contractual document signed and accepted by spouses X… concerning the general clauses of the contract to which the revocation clause relied is a part ;
That in ruling thus, while it follows from the productions that the special conditions signed by the insured were produced before the Court of appeal and stipulated that the insurance was concluded in accordance with the special conditions and the general provisions and annexes of which the subscriber acknowledged having received the full text, the Court of appeal violated the aforementioned text ; FOR THESE REASONS, and without the need to rule on the first and third branches of the second plea : QUASHES AND ANNULS, in all its provisions, the judgment rendered on 14 September 2009, between the parties, by the Court of appeal of Pau ; accordingly, returns the case and the parties to the state in which they were before the said judgment and, to be allowed, refers them to the court of appeal of Toulouse (…) “.
Similarly, it was ruled, in a judgment of the Court of Cassation dated 4 December 2008 (n ° 07-19919) that, in order to be effective against the insured, the reference clause must expressly mention that the insured acknowledges “having received and accepted” all the annexed documents :
“Having regard to article 1134 of the Civil Code ;
Whereas in order to refuse to apply the forfeiture clause provided for in the general conditions of the contract, the judgment holds that the insurer is unable to produce at the debates a contractual document signed and accepted by spouses X… concerning the general clauses of the contract to which the revocation clause relied is a part ;
That in ruling thus, while it follows from the productions that the special conditions signed by the insured were produced before the Court of appeal and stipulated that the insurance was concluded in accordance with the special conditions and the general provisions and annexes of which the subscriber acknowledged having received the full text, the Court of appeal violated the aforementioned text ;
FOR THOSE REASONS, and without the need to rule on the first and third branches of the second plea: QUASHES AND ANNULS, in all its provisions (…) »