Obligatory Insurance as a Form of Social Engineering: A Comparison Paper Between the United States, Italy, Aruba and Poland

Authors

Thomas Allan Heller
University of Maribor, Faculty of Law
Silvia Rigoldi
University of Pavia, Department of Law
Jessica Burgos
University of Aruba
Mateusz Sasinowski
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University

Synopsis

Insurance has been around for centuries. Traditionally, it has been purchased to protect the purchaser, namely, the insured. Over time, the insurance industry has developed an increasing number of products, so that at present one can purchase insurance to cover nearly every risk imaginable. The concept of mandatory or obligatory insurance is a fairly recent development. It traces its origins to the widespread use of the motor vehicle and also employment. Obligatory insurance is designed to protect certain classes of persons, such as workers and those who sustain injury and damage at the hands of others. In this article, the authors compare the current state of obligatory insurance in four democratic countries: the United States, Italy, Aruba and Poland. The aim of the article is to catalogue the similarities and differences in obligatory insurance in those four countries. The countries studied all have obligatory insurance designed to offer some degree of protection to workers injured on the job, and in the course and scope of their work, and to those involved in vehicular collisions. The other primary takeaway from our research is that, predictably, there is less obligatory insurance in the United States than in the other countries studied.

Author Biographies

Thomas Allan Heller, University of Maribor, Faculty of Law

Thomas Allan Heller is an American legal expert who earned his legal education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Michigan, 1976) and obtained his J.D. from Wayne Law School in Detroit (Michigan, 1979). He successfully passed the Michigan State Bar Exam in 1981 and the Washington State Bar Exam in 1984. His professional career includes work both in the judiciary and in private legal practice. In 2017, he moved with his family to Maribor, where he established strong and successful ties with the Faculty of Law at the University of Maribor (PF UM). Through his collaboration with the faculty, Thomas Allan Heller made a significant contribution to the dissemination of knowledge about the American legal system in Slovenia. His involvement particularly enriched the teaching process at PF UM, offering students valuable insights into comparative and U.S. law. Thomas Allan Heller is also a key initiator of the now flourishing partnership between Wayne State University and PF UM. His academic work includes a range of scholarly articles published in respected Slovenian journals such as Lexonomica, Medicine, Law & Society, and Pravnik, further solidifying his role in fostering legal scholarship and international academic cooperation.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: heller6651@msn.com

Silvia Rigoldi, University of Pavia, Department of Law

Pavia, Italy. E-mail: silviarigo96gmail.com

Jessica Burgos, University of Aruba

San Nicholas, Aruba, Netherlands. E-mail: jessica.burgos@student.ua.aw

Mateusz Sasinowski, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University

Warszawa, Poland. E-mail: m-sasinowski@wp.pl

Downloads

PDF

Volume

Collected Papers of Thomas A. Heller

Pages

37-70

Published

July 14, 2025

Categories

Copyright (c) 2025 University of Maribor, University Press

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Heller, T. A., Rigoldi, S., Burgos, J., & Sasinowski, M. (2025). Obligatory Insurance as a Form of Social Engineering: A Comparison Paper Between the United States, Italy, Aruba and Poland. In S. Kraljić (Ed.), Collected Papers of Thomas A. Heller (pp. 37-70). University of Maribor Press. https://press.um.si/index.php/ump/catalog/book/977/chapter/734