If two or more contracts for liability insurance or mutual liability insurance have been concluded for the same automobile, the insurer or cooperative is released from the liability to indemnify for damage, pay damages under Article 16, paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 23-3, paragraph (1)), or make a provisional payout under Article 17, paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 23-3, paragraph (1)) (in the following paragraph, referred to as "indemnity for damage or other payment"), under any contract other than the earliest-concluded contract, in connection with an accident arising from the operation of an automobile during a coverage period or period of coverage under mutual insurance that overlaps with the earliest-concluded contract's coverage period or period of coverage under mutual insurance.
In a case as referred to in the preceding paragraph, if there are multiple contracts that constitute the earliest-concluded contract as referred to in that paragraph, an insurer or the cooperative that has concluded one of those contracts is released from the liability to provide an indemnity for damage or other payment beyond the amount arrived at when the amount payable as an indemnity for damage or other payment under that contract is divided by the number of contracts.
Unless an insurer, cooperative, or injured party is aware that the contract under which a claim has been made is not an earliest-concluded contract as referred to in paragraph (1), if, on receipt of a claim for damages under Article 16, paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 23-3, paragraph (1)) or for a provisional payout under Article 17, paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 23-3, paragraph (1)) (hereinafter referred to as the "payment of damages or a provisional payout" in this and the following paragraph), the insurer or cooperative makes a payment of damages or a provisional payout as a benefit under a contract other than the earliest-concluded contract as referred to in paragraph (1), it acquires the rights that the injured party holds against the person that is liable to compensate for the damage, and it also loses the right to demand the return of that benefit from the injured party, to the extent of the benefit it has paid.
保険会社又は組合は、第一項の締結した時が最も早い契約以外の契約に関して第十六条第一項（第二十三条の三第一項において準用する場合を含む。）の規定による損害賠償額の支払又は第十七条第一項（第二十三条の三第一項において準用する場合を含む。）の規定による仮渡金の支払（以下この項及び次項において「損害賠償額等の支払」という。）の請求があつた場合において、損害賠償額等の支払として給付をしたときは、保険会社若しくは組合又は被害者が当該請求に係る契約が第一項の締結した時が最も早い契約以外の契約であることを知つていた場合を除き、その給付をした額の限度において、被害者が損害賠償の責任を有する者に対して有する権利を取得するとともに、被害者に対してした給付の返還を請求する権利を失う。
The preceding paragraph applies mutatis mutandis if an insurer or cooperative pays, as a payment of damages or a provisional payout, an amount of money that, pursuant to paragraph (2), it is to be released from the liability to pay under an earliest-concluded contract as referred to in paragraph (1). In such a case, the term "that the contract under which a claim has been made is not an earliest-concluded contract as referred to in paragraph (1)" in the preceding paragraph is deemed to be replaced with "that, in addition to the contract under which a claim has been made, there is another contract that constitutes an earliest-concluded contract as referred to in paragraph (1)" and "the benefit it has paid" is deemed to be replaced with "the amount of money that, pursuant to paragraph (2), it is to be released from the liability to pay".