Civil Liability & Damages

Moral damage does not have a fixed mathematical formula in Romanian legislation. The court evaluates concretely, considering: severity of the act, duration and intensity of suffering, victim's age, impact on quality of life, degree of fault of the perpetrator.

Judicial practice differentiates by categories of damages: death of a close person, serious bodily injuries with disability, attack on honor or image. For each there is consistent jurisprudence of Romanian courts and ECHR serving as comparative reference.

ECHR judgments and ICCJ (High Court of Cassation and Justice) jurisprudence may be invoked as comparative references in determining the amount.

Recovery covers the entirety of the damage — material and moral:

• Material damage: medical expenses (hospital, recovery, medication), loss of earnings (salary, profit), vehicle destruction, costs of replacing means of transportation, permanent assistance
• Moral damage: physical and psychological suffering, attack on bodily image, impact on family and social life, post-traumatic anxiety
• Future damages: loss of work capacity (partial or total), long-term care needs, prosthetics costs

The compulsory motor insurance (RCA) covers the legal cap (over 6 million EUR for bodily injuries per accident). For amounts above the cap, the guilty driver responds personally with their own assets.

Critical steps in the first 24-48 hours:

1. Police notification — official report with sketch and mentions of guilt. Without the report, recovery is much more difficult.
2. Immediate medical examination — at the hospital, including for apparently minor injuries. Medical documents are essential for damages.
3. Insurer notification — within 5 days, per the RCA contract. Term extendable with justification.
4. Evidence gathering — photos, video, witness identification, preservation of destroyed objects.
5. Lawyer consultation — before accepting any insurer offer. Often the initial offer is 30-50% of the actual damage value.

Limitation period for damages is 3 years from awareness — but prompt action produces substantially better results.

Medical malpractice is one of the most difficult categories to prove. It requires:

1. Complete medical documentation — medical record, tests, imaging, surgical reports, prescriptions
2. Independent forensic medical expert report — ordered by the court or requested at IFML (Institute of Forensic Medicine). This establishes whether professional errors existed and whether they caused the damage
3. Comparison with good practice standards — protocols accepted nationally and internationally for the respective condition
4. Establishing causation — between the medical error and the suffered damage

Dual procedure: Bihor Malpractice Cases Monitoring Commission (administrative procedure, faster) + civil action in court. They often run in parallel.

The Civil Code regulates liability for the act of a thing or animal (Articles 1375-1380):

• For the animal — the owner or the one using the animal is liable, regardless of fault, for the damage caused. E.g.: dog biting a passerby, horse striking.
• For the thing — the keeper is liable for damage caused by a thing under their custody (parked vehicle, falling tree, detached facade).
• For buildings — the owner is liable for ruin or defects of the building, even if they do not live in it.

Liability is excluded only by proof of foreign cause — force majeure, victim's act, third party's act. Total exemption is rare in practice.