An acquaintence claims that he has won a very large monetary award from a civil suit in Italy. I am skeptical of this claim. He was in a car accident where he was very badly injured and the suit stemmed from that accident. My understanding is that these gigantic civil awards were for the most part limited to the U.S. and that there were strict limits in other countries.
My GQ is: Does Italy have a legal system where someone can commonly win a million dollar plus personal injury suit?
Haj
This might be obvious, but could they have won a settlement for millions of Lira? That would work out to be hundreds to thousands of dollars.
I do not think any country has any limit on compensatory awards. Punitive awards are another matter completely.
With a vague term like “very large monetary award” there is not much of a claim to support or debunk. Does he mean large for Italy or “Ford Pinto gas tank” large?
cornflakes and Padeye, no symantic games here, the claim was for a few million U.S. dollars or so. He said that he will comfortably retire (and this guy has expensive tastes) on the award. He was, indeed, in a nasty accident as a pedestrian hit by a car. He is now, for the most part, fully recovered but was hospitalized for a while and has a plate in his skull.
Haj
There is always the issue of deep pockets. Since your friend collected an award there was obviously a party who was able to pay. The driver was either quite wealthy or had incredible insurance coverage.
Yes, but I doubt that he really did collect such an award. I was wondering if anyone who is familiar with the Italian legal system could comment if his story made sense.
Haj
I have some familiarity with the civil law system, but not specifically with the Italian system. Speaking about the civil system generally, I’m not aware of any limits for awards for personal injuries and would be surprised if there were such a thing.
The civil law system has always emphasised compensation for injuries resulting from the defendant’s fault, and traditionally recognised types of damages that were unknown to the common law, such as “moral damages”. So, if the person was badly injured, as you stated in your OP, I’d not be surprised at a large award. The plaintiff must be able to prove the damages in an objective fashion, based on medical testimony, actuarial evidence and so on, but if he succeeds in doing so, damages could be quite large.
You mentioned that he’s going to retire - is that because of ongoing effects from the accident? Since he has a metal plate in his skull, does that mean continuing brain disfunction? Brain injuries often can trigger large awards if they affect the person’s ability to carry on their job, enjoyment of life, etc.
As sailor notes, the civil law does not normally recognise punitive damages in civil suits. The civil law traditionally views punitive damages as an aspect of the criminal law, not a private action for damages.
Thanks, Northern Piper.
To answer your question, he was young when the accident happened and is fully recovered. He’s not really working right now because he doesn’t feel like he has to because of this big payout that he won. The injury hasn’t prevented him from driving, taking classes here and there and playing sports.
Haj
He’s fully recovered, can drive, take classes, play sports; and the award was in the millions of dollars.
Wow, that would be very rare in the USA.
Note you only hear about the big ones; many thousands of lawsuits each year pay little or nothing. (cite: personal knowledge, I worked for a legal newspaper for years.)
Sorry I can’t tell you about Italy, but I’d question it as you do.