What claims does the injured party have against the perpertrator?
The law protects a person's absolute rights, including health. Everyone else is obliged to respect these rights and not interfere with them. Therefore, if someone (perpetrator) injures another person (the victim), it is an interference with human health and the absolute right of the victim. If the following conditions are met:
- The perpetrator acted unlawfully;
- Damage to the victim's health has occurred;
- There is a causal relationship between the injury and the tort;
- The perpetrator acted culpably (culpability is assumed),
the victim will be entitled to compensation for non-pecuniary damage to health. Depending on the situation, he may incur the following sub-claims:
Pain and Suffering Compensation
Pain and Suffering covers compensation for the pain suffered. This is the most common of the claims listed. Its purpose is monetary compensation for acute painful conditions that the victim suffers in connection with the injury to health and temporary ordinary difficulties associated with it. The keyword is: temporary. They can manifest themselves in the physical or psychological sphere.
It can be a broken hand, a concussion, or short-term post-traumatic stress disorder. But this also includes more serious injuries, such as amputation of limbs, severe burns and others.
Monetary compensation is provided. Calculation of compensation has 2 phases:
a) The general practitioner, attending physician in hospital or expert witness will assess the patient. It is based on the medical documentation of the injured person, which is related to the given injury. The calculation is carried out according to the Methodology for § 2958 of the Civil Code, which was taken into account by the Civil Law and Commercial College on 12 . 3. 2014 (colloquially "Methodology of the Supreme Court") . Proceeds according to part B. Methodology.
Note: If you are going to ask a doctor for a pain assessment, and it is not a work injury or an occupational disease, we recommend that you inform him that he should proceed according to the Methodology of the Supreme Court. Sometimes, out of habit, doctors adhere to Government Regulation No. 276/2015 Coll., on compensation for pain and impairment of social functioning caused by a work accident or occupational disease.
b) Then multiply the number of points determined by the doctor by an amount corresponding to 1% of the average monthly gross salary for the year preceding the occurrence of the injury. For damages incurred in 2022, this amount is CZK 378.39. The result is the amount of Pain and Suffering Compensation you are entitled to.
2. Compensation for Permanent Consequences
Permanent Consequences represents compensation for permanent health problems stemming from the injury that will not heal over time. Its purpose is to reimburse for the obstacle to a better future for the victim. If the victim is permanently excluded from certain areas of social, cultural and other areas of life, he is entitled to appropriate compensation.
The rate of exclusion from participation in various areas of life is determined quite complexly. There are 9 chapters ("Learning and applying knowledge"; "Self-care"; "Home life"; ...) and many different domains within them.
Simply put, the severity of permanent consequences is determined by the difficulty of performing normal activities according to the designated domains, in a percentage range (0-100% difficulty). According to a certain key, the percentage rate of exclusion of the victim from ordinary life is then determined. If he were 100% excluded from all areas of life (e.g. he would be in a permanent vegetative state), he would be entitled to compensation for the difficulty of social application in the amount of 400 times the average monthly wage for the previous year. If the damage occurred in 2022, it would be CZK 15,135,600.
The amount of compensation for hindering social application is determined by an expert witness by drawing up an expert opinion. Experts from the field of "Healthcare", the branch of "Evaluation of pain and functional abilities in case of health injuries" should be consulted. It is primarily based on the medical documentation of the injured party, but may (if appropriate) also perform an examination of the injured party himself.
The expert witness again proceeds according to the Methodology of the Supreme Court, part C.
3. Compensation for Other Non-Pecuniary Damages
Compensation for Other Non-Pecuniary Damages is supposed to represent compensation for other hardship that the injured party has suffered and are worthy of compensation. In the words of the Supreme Court, this is a "residual category" of adverse impacts on the victim's sphere, which are not painful and do not have a permanent character.
These are temporary limitations in activities, hardships or concerns beyond the normal discomfort associated with an injury. This includes a variety of hardships that go beyond the ordinary annoyances and discomforts associated with the injury. When determining what are other non-property damages and their calculation, it is necessary to base it on case law (i.e. similar cases, decided by the court). The methodology of the Supreme Court will not help here.
Example: if the injured person has a broken leg and has to wear a cast, which is why it is difficult for him to move, this is a common symptom of a fracture. The pain and associated inconveniences are thus already compensated within the scope of the painful one. But: if, as a result of a complicated fracture, the victim had to stay in the hospital over Christmas and could not spend it with his loved ones, the resulting suffering can be additionally compensated as other non-pecuniary damages (cf. the judgment of the Supreme Court from on 2 May 2019, 25 Cdo 2635/2018).
Other examples of Other Non-Pecuniary Damages:
- inability to spend Christmas with loved ones;
- impossibility to participate in a work or study internship, sports match (other important planned activities);
- abortion of pregnant victim caused by psychological shock, not by the harmful event itself.
Statute of limitations
The statute of limitations is the period within which a claim must be filed in Court. If the injured party did not do so (or if he exercised the right to compensation only after the statute of limitations had expired), the Court would not have to grant him the right to compensation - if the perpetrator (defendant) raises the objection of prescription.
Each of the listed claims is separate, therefore also time-barred separately. The limitation period begins to run from the day the right can be exercised for the first time. The Pain and Suffering Claim is time-barred from the day when the pain and suffering can be quantified - i.e. from the day the injured party's health condition stabilizes. The Compensation for Permanent Consequences is time-barred from the day when it can be quantified - typically one year from the stabilization of the health condition, when it is relatively certain that the consequences for the injured party's health are permanent. The Compensation for Other Non-Pecuniary Damages is time-barred from the day the mental suffering in question occurred.
If you intend to file a claim for compensation for health-related damages, do not hesitate to contact JUDr. Kateřina Hájková, an expert in Medical Law.
