School Shall Be Liable for Harm Caused to Student while Break – Civil Cassation Court within the Supreme Court

There had been an accident with the plaintiff’s son while break at school, due to this the child got a severe leg injury.

In the act composed by the administration of the educational establishment it was testified that the plaintiff’s son had tripped over another student of the school, fallen and got the injury. It was also noted that a teacher of the establishment had violated law and normative acts in terms of non-compliance with the service instruction of a teacher on duty.

District court has partially satisfied father’s claim, recovered 20271.20 UAH of property damage, 200 000 UAH for the compensation of moral damage and expenses for legal assistance and those regarding the presence of the plaintiff’s representative in the court, from the educational establishment in the favor of the plaintiff.

Appeal court reduced the sum of the compensation for moral damage till 20 000, since the plaintiff had not declared demands on the compensation of moral damage in the interests and in the favor of his minor child, the claim was declared just due to the fact that the moral harm had been caused to the plaintiff due to the fact that for him “it was extremely difficult to deal with suffering” of his son because of the injure.

The Supreme Court represented by the panel of judges of the Third Judicial Chamber of the Civil Cassation Court within the Supreme Court has cancelled the resolution of the appeal court in terms of the solution of the claim on the recovery of moral damage; in this part the Court has upheld the judgment of the district court taking into account the following.

While determining the moral damage the first instance court has taken into account the gravity of the bodily harm got by the child, his physical and psychical suffering. The child has twice undergone the surgery, he is under constant medical supervision, acknowledged as a disabled child, requires a long-term course of rehabilitation. Such a situation has resulted in the violation of normal and habitual lifestyle of the child, as well as his parents. The boy has been restricted in self-care, moving, for a long time needed education upon an individual plan. The boy is restricted in physical activity, because of trauma cannot fully go in for sports, have active lifestyle; he is limping, because one leg is now shorter, which causes certain insecurities.

The child needs psychological, social and domestic rehabilitation. The moral damage caused to the plaintiff also consists of deep emotional stress for son’s life and health.

The district court has taken into account the nature and volume of suffering of the minor child and the plaintiff, the nature of forced life changes and efforts required to restore the previous state.

The appeal court agreed that the plaintiff, as father, had endured profound spiritual suffering, herewith, contrary to requirements of articles 367, 382 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, overestimated the available evidence in the case, did not provide adequate evidence to refute the conclusions of the first instance court.

Follow the link, to see the Resolution of the Supreme Court of 18 March 2020 in the case No. 738/387/19 (proceedings No. № 61-25св20): http://www.reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/88338153.