Claims for the recovery of material and moral damage in an accident are no longer a rarity. They must be approached with all caution and prudence, because often they are simply trying to lure money out of companies. With the diligence of the Client and the good work of a lawyer, it is often possible to significantly reduce the amount of the amount recovered as moral and material damage.
Description of the situation
A client of the ProYuristBy law firm, which is a passenger carrier using a bus, received a statement of claim “for material compensation for moral damage and material damage”.
A former employee of the Client, who worked as a bus driver, got into an accident while transporting passengers, as a result of which the bus with passengers overturned. As a result of such an accident, one of the passengers suffered less serious bodily injuries. In the statement of claim, the victim stated that he had suffered material and moral damage and demanded that our Client be held criminally liable, to recover the amount of moral damage in the amount of 20,000 Belarusian rubles. rub., material damage in connection with the loss of wages in the amount of 10,500.00 Bel. rub., the cost of paying the state duty in the amount of 550.00 Bel. rub. At the same time, more than a year passed from the moment of the accident to the preparation and filing of the Statement of Claim by the Victims.
What have we done?
- analyzed all the documents available to the Client and listened to his opinion regarding the situation;
- analyzed the Statement of Claim and found out that not all the requirements of the Accused are justified from the point of view of the law;
- made various inquiries to the bus manufacturer and its representatives in various countries in order to find out whether the damage to the bus, which, according to the driver, could have led to an accident.
What happened in court?
The court session was conducted as part of a criminal process, the former employee of our Client was the defendant, and the Client himself acted as a Civil Defendant. The representative of the Victim claimed that the organization, our Client, was the cause of the accident. A former employee of the Client claimed that the cause of the accident was a faulty bus, so our Client is to blame. The situation was complicated by the fact that no examination of the bus was carried out after the accident, and, as we have already said, almost a year had passed from the moment of the accident to the filing of the Statement of Claim.
Result
The client managed to prove that the bus was in perfect order, and the cause of the accident was that the driver chose the wrong safe speed, did not take into account the weather (meteorological) conditions, the condition of the road surface, as a result of which he lost control of the vehicle, which led to car accident. Because The client was the owner of the bus, he had to pay moral damages, but not 20,000.00 Belarusian rubles, as the victim claimed, but 5,000.00 Belarusian rubles. rub. All other payments fell on the shoulders of the driver.
