Stabilirea daunelor morale în temeiul asigurării obligatorii de răspundere civilă auto pentru decese din accidente de circulație – judecătorul are ultimul cuvânt
Determining Moral Damages on the Basis of the Civil Liability Car Insurance for Deaths Resulting from Car Accidents – the Judge Has the Final Word

Summary/Abstract: In the context of an unpredictable and inconsistent case law, I set out to synthetize the main criteria for quantifying the general damage in the event of road death as resulting from the judicial practice that I consulted for the years 2012 to 2019. Such an approach can enhance coherence in the use by the courts of the instruments for individualizing the amount of the general damages awarded to the indirect victims in the event of death. Within their decisions, the courts constantly refer to the criteria for the quantification of the general damages listed in Decision no. 89/09.06.2003 of the Supreme Court of Justice (the negative consequences suffered by the concerned person both physically and mentally, the importance of the damaged values, the extent to which these values have been damaged, the intensity with which the consequences of the injury are perceived, the extent to which the family, professional and social situation of the victim has been affected, fairness and proportionality). Nonetheless, in justifying the amount of the general damages, the courts have preferred to use certain more concrete criteria. The judicial practice consulted shows that in the event of death, the main criterion taken into account by the courts is the victim’s relationship with the persons claiming damages. In the same time, it follows from this case law that in the event of death, the courts have awarded the highest amounts of general damages to the minor children, then to the parents and then to the spouses/partners. As a rule, the persons sharing the same relationship with the victim are awarded the same amount of general damages. Other important circumstances that the courts take into consideration in awarding the general damages are the possible cohabitation with the deceased, the possible contribution of the deceased victim at the time of the accident, the age of the deceased and of the relatives/persons claiming general damages, the possible family relationship/affinity of the person causing the accident with the person claiming general damages, the standard of living, the social and economic context and the incomes of the victim or the education level and the occupation of the relatives of the deceased. All these are supplemented as a “safety net”, by the more general criterion of fairness (and proportionality), very useful to the courts in justifying the amounts awarded.

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