The owner of a vehicle who is injured as a pedestrian by his own vehicle can receive civil responsibility compensation, ruled the European Court of Justice in a ruling published on Thursday 14 September in case C-503/16.
In 2009, Luis Isidro Delgado Mendes was seriously injured as a pedestrian by his own car when it was in the process of being stolen by a thief he didn’t know. He had civil responsibility insurance for the car to cover injury and damages caused to third parties.
The Portuguese legal system sent the case to the European Court of Justice, which says that Delgado Mendes was a pedestrian when the accident occurred and damage he suffered is covered by his vehicle’s insurance policy. The court says that the fact that the pedestrian knocked down in the accident was also the insurance policy holder and owner of the vehicle that caused the accident cannot prevent the person from being a third-party victim under EU Directive (90/232/EEC) on civil responsibility arising from the circulation of motor vehicles. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)