The Contract of the Legal Expense Insurance in Sports

Legal Expense Insurance (LEI) establishes a private-law insurance by which the insurer undertakes to compensate the insured for any legal expenses he/she may have when in need of legal protection (attorney fees, court expenses, expenses of experts, etc.) The subject of LEI is various legal expenses arising upon realisation of the legal interests of the insured, i.e. whenever the insured is in need of legal aid. The insurer is obliged to pay the expenses in civil litigation, administrative proceedings, civil and criminal proceedings. Sport is an activity which is linked with risk of legal expenses (disputes arising from sports contracts, compensation disputes, criminal liabilities, etc). Thereby the need for legal protection must be in relation with the performance of sports activities or must be derived from such activity. This paper deals with specific risks of legal protection in the sports activities, the definition of the insured event and with the specific rights and obligations of the contracting parties. At the same time it is emphasized that this type of insurance in Croatia is still in its beginnings, so there is no adequate offer such coverage in the Croatian insurance market