STATE LAW – AMERICAN SAMOA LIBRARY – GUIDE 05
American Samoa Direct Action Against Liability Insurers — A.S.C.A. §§22.2018 & 29.1537
American Samoa provides an unusually broad statutory right of direct action against a liability insurer. For a cause of action arising in American Samoa, an injured person or the person’s heirs or representatives may sue the liability insurer within the terms and limits of the policy, whether or not the policy was written or delivered in American Samoa and even if the policy contains language purporting to prohibit direct action.
- The insurer may be sued alone or together with the insured.
- The right applies within the terms and limits of the liability policy.
- American Samoa case law treats the statute as a public-policy protection to be construed broadly.
- The direct-action right applies to liability policies beyond bodily-injury claims and has been applied to property-damage disputes.
Current-law review: September 17, 2026. See A.S.C.A. §29.1537 and related compulsory-insurance provisions; verify policy-specific defenses and current High Court authority before reliance.
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Official American Samoa sources
American Samoa Legislature (Fono) · Office of the Insurance Commissioner · American Samoa Government