We obtained compensation totaling approximately 88,500 euros in favor of each of the civil parties
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
The Gh. family’s case arose from the road accident on July 16, 2021, which occurred on the A10 highway, in Cluj County.
On that day, Mr. Gh. N. was driving the company car, tasked with delivering mail to the debtors of the employing company in Alba County. Around 9:50 a.m., he was forced to stop on the emergency lane of the A10 highway, heading from Turda to Aiud, for unknown reasons.
During the same time interval and in the same direction, Mr. I.N.V. was driving the tractor unit consisting of a Volvo tractor unit, insured at the time of the accident by Groupama Asigurări SA, and a Koegel semitrailer, insured at the time of the accident by City Insurance SA. Upon reaching the area of km 65+753 m, due to the failure to maintain a sufficient lateral distance, the tractor unit driven by Mr. I.N.V. collided rear-end and then laterally with the Hyundai car in which the victim was located, hitting the right front and side of the tractor unit against the left side of the car.
According to the speed diagram, the unit driven by the defendant was traveling at 110 km/h in the moments leading up to the impact. According to the CMR, it was loaded with 24,900 kg of timber material (spruce beams, spruce lumber), so, after the impact, the victim’s car was destroyed by 95%.
OUR CONTRIBUTION
After notifying the criminal court with the indictment, the victim’s daughters joined as civil parties and requested the insurance company of the defendant’s vehicle to pay for the emotional distress suffered and the expenses incurred for the funeral and Christian rituals to honor the memory of their beloved father. Recalling the personality of the lost parent in tragic conditions, the daughters showed in the case file that their father had been driving for 35 years, also being a military officer, but had never been involved in accidents, being very careful behind the wheel.
Furthermore, from the case files, it emerged that the victim was not at fault in this case either, with the judicial control court noting that “Furthermore, from the evidence material administered in the case, it results with sufficiency that the defendant I.N.V. is the only person guilty of causing the road traffic accident, being the one who did not comply with the road rules regarding maintaining a sufficient distance from the preceding vehicle and those regarding the change of direction, consequently colliding with the Hyundai car with license plate B-333-WLU, stopped on the emergency lane in its direction of travel, in which Mr. Gh.N. was located.”
The Turda Court appreciated that the sum of 60,000 euros would alleviate the suffering of the victim’s two adult daughters, noting that the victim was a true example and a source of inspiration for his daughters, among other things, by graduating from college at the age of 40, and after retiring from the Ministry of National Defense, rejoining and continuing to work, being an active person at 57.
The appeal court upheld the decision in the first instance, noting that the 60,000 euros are due to the civil parties in addition to the sums voluntarily paid by the insurer before the pronouncement of the decision in the first instance. “The Court takes into account the circumstance that awarding compensation totaling approximately 88,500 euros in favor of each of the civil parties (of which 28,500 euros were awarded voluntarily) does not exceed the amount of fair and equitable compensation, considering the evaluation criteria analyzed earlier.”
