Injured person or persons close to him may be entitled to compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage. Both types of damage can be manifested as an actual damage and a future damage.
The types of pecunary damage
The types of pecunary damage can occur as a real simple positive or existing, ie. impairment of one’s property (damage or destruction of things) or in the form of loss of income ie. future or negative damage.
Compensation of the pecunary damage in case of death, the body injury and damage to health
In case of death, close family members of the injured party are compensated by usual funeral costs of injured party.
In the case of body injuries and damage to health, the injured person is compensated by:
- the costs of medical treatment of inflicted injuries
- other necessary costs associated with the medical treatment, and
- earnings lost due to incapacity for work.
Annuity and annuity claims
In Law of obligations annuity is understood as a form of compensation for damages whose total amount is not known at the time of deciding on the request, and shall be paid periodically in predetermined amounts. Exceptionally the injured party has the right to request payment of damages once or payment of capitalized amount of annuity.
Capitalised annuity is a form of compensation of future damages in a total amount and must be the present value of the future benefits. Generally pecunary damage, which will be realized in the future are compensated by annuity.
In our law there are two basic types of damage for which the compensation is awarded in the form of annuity, as follows:
- damages caused by bodily injury or damage to health and
- damages araising from the death of alimony provider.
Law on Obligations envisages that the compensation is determined in the form of annuity for:
- lost of alimony, more exactly support as a result of death of the provider (Article 194.)
- loss of earnings (Article 195)
- a permanent increase in the needs of the injured person (necessary assisstance of others – Article 195 Paragraph 2)
- destruction or reduction possibilities of further development and progress as a result of complete or partial incapacity for work (Article 195, Paragraph 2).
Users of annuity
Depending on whether the compensation is in the form of annuity shall be awarded for damages caused by bodily injury or damage to the health of the injured or for damages resulting from the death of provider of alimentation, users of annuity can be divided into:
- directly affected parties (when injured personally asking for annuity for lost profits, assisstance of others and other damages in connection with health impairments) and
- indirectly affected parties, who lose alimentation due to death of a person (children, spouses, parents and other people),
and this division is of importance when deciding on the right to compensation on this basis.
According to the type of profession or occupation of the injured or deceased persons, as one of the criteria of division, users of annuity are divided into:
- employed in companies regardless of their form of ownership
- employees in state bodies and public services
- individual farmers or household members, who profits realized exclusively on their landholdings
- entrepreneurs
- housewives
- injured persons dealing with a liberal profession
- workers on temporary work abroad
- unemployed persons and
- juveniles and persons in regular education.
Non-pecuniary types of damage
Under the conditions provided by law, the injured person and persons close to him, can exercise the right to compensation for non-pecuniary damage. Non-pecuniary types of damages exist in case of violation of subjective non-property rights and interests of personality.
Law on Obligations established the right to non-pecuniary damage to the following persons:
For the benefit of someone who is directly damaged in Article 200 and 203 are established the right to compensation for non-pecuniary damage in case of bodily injury or damage to health, namely:
- for physical pain
- for mental suffering due to impairment life activities
- emotional distress due to disfigurement and
- for enduring fear.
Members of the immediate family and close relatives of difficult physically injured person or the deceased are guaranteed the right to compensation for non-pecuniary damage:
- for mental suffering in the event of particularly serious disability of a close person (Article 201 and 203), or
- for his death (Article 200 paragraph 1, 201 and 203.)
Annuity for Sustained Non-pecuniary Damage
And for the non-pecuniary damage that occurs in the form of mental pain due to reduced life activities, may be paid compensation in the form of an annuity.
Financial compensation for non-pecuniary damages could be awarded in the form of an annuity to the fulfillment of the following conditions:
- that the injured required it
- it is a very serious consequences in cases of severe physical impairment
- that the compensation in the form of an annuity represents in the circumstances appropriate satisfaction.