An insurance policy clause that assigns to third parties the assessment of damage through contractual expert appraisal constitutes a case of contractual expert appraisal and not arbitration, institutional or contractual, when the parties entrust the third party with the task of expressing a technical assessment on the extent of the consequences of an event while excluding from its powers the resolution of matters relating to the validity and effectiveness of the insurance cover.
The agreement of a contractual expert appraisal clause does not prevent the parties from having recourse to the ordinary court for the resolution of disputes involving legal questions concerning the determination of the existence of the right to compensation and the validity and effectiveness of the insurance cover, these being matters excluded from the competence of the experts.
A contractual clause that provides for the possibility but not the obligation to resort to the appointment of an expert panel for damage assessment does not constitute a derogation from ordinary jurisdiction when it identifies a merely optional and alternative remedy to judicial protection.