Sevilla Court Awards €32,000 Compensation To Moped Rider In Dog Accident

SEVILLA Court Awards €32,000 Compensation To A Moped Rider Who Was Involved in an accident with a dog

A court in Sevilla has sentenced a man and his insurance company to compensate the rider of a moped with almost €32,000, after the rider had been involved in an accident with a dog belonging to the man.

The incident occurred on November 28, 2012, when the plaintiff was riding his moped on the A-8100, which connects Utrera and Carmona, in Sevilla province. A man was walking his dog on the same stretch of road, when suddenly the animal ran into the path of the rider, causing him to swerve to avoid the dog and ending up crashing his moped.

As a result of the crash, the court heard that the rider suffered injuries including “a fracture of the left radius and ulna, and an undisplaced peri-prosthetic fracture of the right knee plateau-tibial” which needed two surgeries and the placement of a new prosthesis.

At the time of the accident, the rider made a compensation claim of €218,958 against the dog’s owner which was subsequently dismissed by a court in Utrera, on the grounds that there was not “sufficient evidence about the way in which the events occurred, that is, that it was the defendant’s dog that caused the motorist to crash”, as reported by Diario de Sevilla.

The rider lodged an appeal with a court in Sevilla, and during a hearing last January – details of which were collected by Europa Press – the judge reminded the court that the dog’s owner had in fact admitted during cross-examination that his dog had been running loose in the road, and said that “the accreditation that the dog crossed the path of the vehicle results from the statements of two witnesses”.

But, added the judge, “from the police report and the statement of a third witness who came to the scene as soon as the accident occurred, it has been proven that the motorist was riding carrying bags full of food hanging from his wrists, so that his handling of the vehicle was hampered by this circumstance and, in fact, he told the Local Police in his statement that when he tried to avoid the animal he fell to the ground”.

After analysing the evidence, the judge said compensation of €63,916 was correct, but that it should be halved as both parties were equally responsible for the accident, and so ordered the dog’s owner and his insurance company to pay the rider €31,958.

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