Benin: NSIA Assurances ordered to pay over 483 million FCFA to a towing company

The Commercial Court of Cotonou has ruled on the dispute between NSIA Assurances SA and the company Dépannage Les Experts Bénin SARL. In a judgment delivered on July 2, 2026, the commercial court ordered the insurance company to pay 483,763,801 FCFA, plus legal interest and costs.

The decision was rendered adversarially and at first instance by the First Chamber of the Second Section of the Commercial Court of Cotonou, following the hearings held on June 25, 2026.

The case originated from a payment injunction procedure initiated by Dépannage Les Experts Bénin. On April 2, 2026, the company had approached the president of the Commercial Court to obtain payment of a principal debt of 483,763,801 FCFA owed by NSIA Assurances, along with interest and costs.

A payment injunction order was subsequently issued on April 3, 2026. NSIA Assurances opposed it by asking the court to declare the request inadmissible, annul the service of the injunction order, and retract the decision ordering payment.

The Arguments of NSIA Assurances Rejected

To contest the procedure, NSIA Assurances argued that the request filed by Dépannage Les Experts Bénin did not specify the exact amount of legal interest and costs claimed. According to the company, this lack of precision should result in the inadmissibility of the payment injunction request.

The court did not accept this argument. It stated that the request explicitly indicated the principal amount of the debt and contained the mentions required by Article 4 of the Uniform Act of OHADA relating to simplified debt collection procedures and enforcement methods.

The court also considered that interest and procedural costs could only be definitively calculated after a condemnation decision. Their amount did not need to be detailed at the stage of the payment injunction request.

NSIA Assurances also sought the annulment of the act by which the injunction was served on it on April 8, 2026. It criticized this act for not expressly granting it the legal ten-day period to pay the demanded sum and for not specifying the modalities of opposition.

After reviewing the document, the court noted that the act clearly specified the form in which the opposition had to be introduced. However, it highlighted the absence of the mention of the ten-day period for payment.

This irregularity was not sufficient to lead to the annulment of the act. The judges considered that NSIA Assurances had not demonstrated that it had suffered harm due to this omission, which was classified as a formal irregularity. The request for nullity was therefore rejected.

The insurance company finally contested the principal amount of the debt and requested the retraction of the payment injunction order.

The court relied on the documents submitted to the case, including invoices dated March 6, April 8, and July 9, 2025. According to the court, these documents establish that NSIA Assurances remains indebted to Dépannage Les Experts Bénin in the amount of 483,763,801 FCFA.

The judges noted that the company contested the claimed amount without providing elements to demonstrate that the debt was nonexistent or had already been settled. Consequently, they confirmed the debt presented by the repair company.

In its ruling, the Commercial Court of Cotonou dismissed all claims by NSIA Assurances. It ordered the company to pay Dépannage Les Experts Bénin the sum of 483,763,801 FCFA, along with legal interest and costs. The insurance company will also have to bear the procedural costs.