Civil action in criminal case. Moral damages. Criteria for appreciating the amount

DREPT PENAL ŞI DREPT PROCESUAL PENAL

Abstract

In the absence of certain legal criteria on the basis of which an objective quantification of the moral damages can be realized, the court is the one that will proceed to establishing them in relation to the negative consequences produced by the car accident, the importance of the values injured to the civil part, the intensity and the consequence of the mental trauma suffered, to what extent its material and social situation was affected. The damages representing moral damages must be reasonable, their appreciation and quantification must be fair and equitable, to correspond to the real and effective moral damage caused to the injured party and suffered by it, in such a way as not to reach an enrichment without a fair basis of the one entitled to claim and receive moral damages, but neither should they be ridiculous. The evaluation of the moral damages, not being able to be done under the same conditions with the repair of the patrimonial damages, implies the establishment of specific criteria: – the social importance of the injured value by committing the unlawful act, in this case, the value being able to have both a subjective content (implying a appreciation on the part of the injured person), as well as an objective content, being the expression of an objective requirement of reality; – severity, intensity of the mental pain caused; – repercussions over the situation of civil parties, including in the family and social plan; – the fairness and reasonableness of the monetary reparation that will contribute to covering the caused suffering and not to an enrichment without a fair cause. Therefore, since in establishing moral damages we cannot rely on material evidence, their amount will be judged by the court at a reasonable amount against the suffering of the civil parties, stressing out in the same context that also the solution of convicting the defendant to go to prison, pronounced in the criminal action plan, provides these civil parties with equitable, direct and immediate satisfaction, of moral order for the injustice suffered, the justice being accomplished through the interlocking of the two modalities.