What are the compensation claims of the bereaved relatives of deceased victims? What compensation can they demand from the wrongdoer?
Change in Compensation for Secondary Victims
The Czech Constitutional Court recently made a significant decision that fundamentally changed the approach to compensating secondary victims. Secondary victims are the surviving relatives of deceased persons. This case involves a sad but unfortunately typical situation where, in a car accident caused by another driver, a grandmother lost her grandchildren and daughter-in-law. Although the grandmother was not directly involved in the accident, the death of her loved ones deeply affected her. She began suffering from severe depression and consequently ended up disabled with psychiatrical diagnose.
Claims of the Bereaved
The grandmother sued the wrongdoer's insurer for compensation for her own injury. In this context, she incurred the following claims:
- Compensation for emotional damage – monetary compensation for not being able to establish, develop and maintain a relationship with deceased loved ones.
- Compensations related to health damage – compensation for loss of earnings during the period of incapacity for work, compensation for loss of earnings in case of disability and compensation for the costs associated with treatment.
Significant Case Law
A significant development in the recent case law was as follows. The Czech Constitutional Court recognized that the relatives of the deceased have the right to compensation for personal injury resulting from the grief (or shock) of the death of their loved ones, as well as other claims related thereto. This decision changes the existing case law and expands the possibilities of compensation for injured persons.
Other Claims of the Bereaved
Person in a similar situation may have other material and immaterial claims related to personal injury, such as:
- Compensation for Pain and Suffering (compensation for a temporary painful condition on the psychological level suffered as a result of the shock of the death of a close person - especially depression, PTSD);
- Compensation for unpaid care (if the previously deceased person performed unpaid care or labour for the bereaved);
- Pension loss compensation (the difference between the pension to which the injured person is entitled and the pension to which he would have been entitled if the basis on which the pension was calculated had included the compensation for loss of earnings after incapacity for work which the injured person was receiving at the time the pension was calculated);
- Reimbursement of survivors' maintenance costs (maintenance costs for survivors to whom the deceased was providing or was obliged to provide maintenance at the date of death).
We focus on compensation for personal injury and we welcome this decision of the Czech Constitutional Court as correct. The bereaved family will not get their loved ones back, but they can claim higher monetary compensation, which may help alleviate their difficult situation.
(according to the decision of the Czech Constitutional Court Pl. ÚS 14/24 )
