CLAIMS FOR DAMAGES DUE TO COVID19
CLAIMS FOR DAMAGES DUE TO COVID19
The disproportionate and unexplained damage caused by Covid 19 to the health and physical integrity of many people has led to much reflection on whether this damage could have been minimized, and this debate has highlighted enormous deficiencies in many centers or residences for the elderly, as well as the lack of preventive measures aimed at avoiding or reducing the risk that was expected from the beginning of this pandemic.
Tort Lawyers
It is difficult to imagine any action made by a person that doesn’t involve a risk of causing harm to another.
This matter is so important, due to the number of cases that are settled out of court, the cases that are filed in the courts, due to the economic volume that they generate, due to the number of people and companies involved, and finally, due to the high influence on the economic activity. Therefore, it is not surprising that every day more and more people are talking about Tort Law.
We know this very well in our law firm based in Alicante of Carlos Baño León where this matter is treated very frequently because we are specialists in Tort Law and claims for damages.
The Law of Tort doesn’t exist legally provided and regulated as such but it has been systematized by the Doctrine and Jurisprudence trying to regulate the fault and damages in a coherent and systematized way even though it is provided for in different regulations and special laws.
Thus, although it is substantially regulated by the Civil Code, it is true that other legal texts include cases of civil liability; for example, the Criminal Code regulates the liability derived from a crime.
For many years, Carlos Baño León lawyers from Alicante has been a member of the Medical Law Association.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWYERS. MEDICAL DAMAGES. MEDICAL LIABILITY.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWYERS. MEDICAL DAMAGES. MEDICAL LIABILITY.
It is recognized that if there is a science with great advances over the last few years, it is medicine. The advance in medicine is so significant that every day more and more the patient has more security as for the effective and positive result of the healthcare provision to which he or she is undergoing.
Within this area of the Law the areas where liability can be deduced are many, and as an example we point out those that we most frequently attend in our law firm:
CLAIM FOR DAMAGES DERIVED FROM PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY || CLAIM FOR DAMAGES DERIVED FROM THE MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC|| CLAIM FOR DAMAGES DERIVED FROM BUSINESS PRACTICE|| CLAIM FOR DAMAGES DERIVED FROM MALFUNCTIONING OF STATE SERVICES
CLAIMS FOR CONSTRUCTION DAMAGES LAWYER IN ALICANTE
CLAIMS FOR CONSTRUCTION DAMAGES LAWYER IN ALICANTE
There are several actions that the Spanish legal system attributes to the buyer of a dwelling due to construction defects after the purchase of the property.
The Alicante law firm of Mr. Carlos Baño León, specialists in Tort Law, has an important practice in this area of law.
JUDICIAL FIELD OF THE CLAIM
Claims for damages will be the responsibility of the Civil Jurisdiction, to a great extent; although they can also be the responsibility of the criminal courts in the cases of civil liability derived from a crime; and contentious administrative in those cases where claims are made against the Administration and personnel assigned to it. In this case and due to its importance we point out the claims against health personnel of the Social Security.
IN THE EVENT OF LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES
In the case of contractual liability, fault or malice is required, whereas in the case of non-contractual liability, simple negligence is often enough, and in many cases, liability arising from a risky activity, known as objective fault (which we will discuss later), is increasingly common.
The general principle is that a cause-effect relationship must exist between the event where there is a willful misconduct (breach of the obligation or action or extra-contractual omission) and the damage to be compensated.
TYPES OF DAMAGES
The damage may be material, personal or even moral.
Material or financial damages are those that produce an economically assessable loss in the interests of the injured party.
Non-pecuniary damages, in principle, are those in which their valuation in money has no basis of equivalence, since they affect elements or interests that are difficult to evaluate in economic terms.
Moral damages are those that don’t affect the assets of the damaged party and entail the damage of immaterial interests that trascend to asset values.
COMPENSABLE CONCEPTS
The governing principle in this matter is to compensate for the integrity of the damage.
This criterion of the integrity of the reparations won’t happen in all cases, since there are cases in which the compensation will be reduced by the victim’s fault, or in which the victim has legally or traditionally established the duty to mitigate the damage.
Likewise, it must be taken into account that guilt and therefore liability will be exonerated in cases of force majeure and fortuitous events, and it must be clear that it will be the person who claims them who must prove the existence of any of these causes.
With respect to economic losses, this should include both the economic costs incurred and any lost profits.
With regard to the quantification of personal injuries, the scales published each year in the BOE (the Spanish Oficcial Gazette), which are used by insurance companies to quantify claims, will be applicable as a reference (Ruling of 30 March 2020, of the General Insurance and Pension Funds Directorate, which publishes the updated compensation amounts of the system for the assessment of damages caused to people in traffic accidents).
The quantification of moral damages for the suffering endured is at the discretion of the Court or Tribunal.
PROOF
This is an important chapter in this matter, not only because of the demand and proof of the liability assumptions, but also because of the special set of presumptions and burden of proof created by the Jurisprudence governing this subject.
In order to establish the existence of liability, three elements must be present. The existence of a damage; the accusation of an action that can be declared an agent or a cause of damage and thirdly the existence of a cause and effect relationship between both.
It is very important to know that the burden of proof in contractual liability only requires proof of the contractual relationship and the existence of a damage; in non-contractual liability the existence of fault must be proved as well as the existence of a causal relationship between the action or omission and the damage suffered.
PRESCRIPTION
The prescription of the legal actions will depend on whether their origin is contractual or non-contractual, the criterion of distinction being whether the liability arises from a damage produced within the scope of a contractual relationship between the parties; or it is a damage caused by a third party with whom there is no contractual relationship.
In cases of a contractual relationship, liability prescribes after five years from the moment the cause of the damage occurred or the treatment was finished without any possibility of improvement; while non-contractual liability prescribes after one year from the moment the damage was definitively fixed and a cure is not possible in cases of health.
PRESCRIPTION INTERRUPTION
The prescription will be interrupted by any claim or extrajudicial management that is formulated in advance although it should be taken into account that the period is of interruption which means that after this management the period will be resumed and won’t be restarted.
Without prejudice to this, the exercise of criminal actions will paralyse the calculation of the time limit for the exercise of civil actions if it the case you have acted through criminal procedures, and these actions will be dismissed.
INTEREST
Default interest.
It will be accrued from the date of default in compliance with the payment obligation, provided that it has been requested unless otherwise stated in the contract, if there is one; and its amount will be that corresponding to the legal interest of the money provided that no other is agreed in the contract.
From the time the sentence is issued until it is fulfilled by the party obliged, these legal interests will be increased by two points.
INSURANCE COMPANIES
The possibility of many of the damages derived from both contractual and non-contractual actions are usually covered by insurance policies, either by legal requirement, such as in the case of accidents for damages caused by driving motor vehicles, also in the case of construction damages; or voluntarily, such as insurance coverage for professional actions in which civil liability is covered, including payment of fees for legal defense.
You should know that in all these cases it is voluntary to appoint a lawyer who should be covered by the insurance company without you having to pay anything.
Carlos Baño León’s Lawyers specialized in Tort Law offer to help you as soon as you need it and we put our services at your disposal; so that as soon as you have an accident or any other kind of incident, apart from reporting it to your insurance company immediately, you will be able to appoint us for your legal assistance and defence in Courts and Tribunals. Our lawyers will take care of communicating with your insurance company and agree with them on our intervention without any advance payment or payment for you. Everything will be paid for by your insurance company.
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