Fatal hit-and-run case reaches EU Court of Justice
The EU Court of Justice will decide whether victims of intentional hit-and-run incidents are entitled to compensation equivalent to that for traffic accidents.
Fatal hit-and-run in Cerdanyola generates European litigation over compensation
According to elperiodico.com, a case of homicide committed with a vehicle in Cerdanyola del Vallès has reached the EU Court of Justice (CJEU), which will decide on 15 December on the compensation rights for victims of intentional hit-and-run incidents. The case began on 12 July 2020, when Adrián J. fatally struck his childhood friend Ángel at the exit of a nightclub following an argument.
The convicted driver struck the victim on several occasions as they were leaving the venue. Ángel died shortly afterwards in hospital. The driver was travelling without a driving licence, without compulsory insurance, at high speed, with lights off and under the influence of alcohol and other substances. In 2022, the Barcelona Provincial Court sentenced Adrián to nearly 17 years in prison for murder with treachery and ordered the Insurance Compensation Consortium to pay the family 353,449 euros in compensation.
The legal conflict arose when the Consortium appealed the sentence, arguing that Spanish law excludes compensation for crimes committed with vehicles when it is used as a weapon rather than as a means of transport. The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) partially upheld the appeal and reduced the compensation to 235,632 euros by annulling an increase for the use of the car as an instrument of the crime.
Álvaro Machado, the lawyer representing Ángel's family at Vosseler Abogados, submitted a brief to the Supreme Court arguing that the European directive on motor vehicle insurance requires that all victims of damage caused by vehicles receive compensation equivalent to that of compulsory insurance, even in intentional hit-and-run incidents. Machado argues that Spanish law offers inferior coverage and that the EU directive should be applied.
In April, the Supreme Court considered that there were reasonable doubts about the interpretation of European regulations and referred a preliminary question to the CJEU to determine how the EU norm should be interpreted before applying it in Spain. This question will be resolved on 15 December.
From Vosseler Abogados they emphasise that the CJEU ruling will not only affect this specific case but will establish binding precedent for all countries in the European Union. Machado argues that if the CJEU agrees with his arguments, "families of victims of intentional hit-and-run incidents, which are considered murders, femicides or vehicle-based assaults, could be entitled to receive the same compensation as in a conventional traffic accident", even when the perpetrator lacks insurance.
The specialist considers that this case may become a landmark in European case law regarding the protection of victims of violence. In its 2022 ruling, the Barcelona Provincial Court detailed that the convicted man and the victim were in the nightclub when they encountered Ángel's brother, with whom they maintained a close friendship. Despite this, they had a fight and left separately.
It was then that Adrián J. got into his car and struck Ángel from behind. He then turned around and ran over him again when the victim was dazed in the middle of the road "with no possibility of escape or defence", which constituted an act of treachery. The judges took into account that the convicted man had never obtained a driving licence and was driving without insurance and without lights.
The Provincial Court noted that victims of road violence are often forgotten in criminal proceedings and stressed that "the loss of a loved one who dies in an act of road violence is irreparable; the existential void it causes cannot be compensated financially". The court stated that without the conviction of the Consortium as jointly responsible civilly, the injured parties would hardly receive the recognised compensation due to the insolvency of the convicted man.
Psychiatrists who examined Adrián J. described him as "cold, manipulative, impulsive, thoughtless, lacking empathy, emotionally unstable and with little sense of remorse or guilt". The court argued that compensation allowed for the protection of victims and their families, preventing society from being "left unassisted, unarmed and defenceless".
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)