Análise comparativa da valorização das indemnizações por acidente de viação em Portugal e Espanha

Comparison of indemnity for body damage due to traffic accidents in Portugal and Spain Since remote civilizations there has been laws referring to sanctions and indemnity for body damage. In Rome, lex Aquilia assumed the need for damage repair, valued for free men extra patrimonial prejudices and temporary incapacity, considered victim’s capacity before and after the damage and his professional skills. Napoleon’s Code centered the need for total damage repair on “guilt”. Technological evolution aggravated risk for “non guilt” accidents needing repair by assurance companies and society. Evaluation and repairing damage is a central discussing subject in EU. Road accidents being a major cause of body damage, we compare Portuguese and Spanish indemnity systems for road accidents. In Portugal indemnity depends upon a medical legal evaluation to be valued by a judge in court; in Spain there is a mandatory evaluation instrument. We compare indemnity values paid for 32 cases in Portugal, judged by different courts, with values obtained for the same cases using Spanish “baremo”. Values from different years were actualized for inflation rate. Indemnity values in Portugal were also converted to Spanish standard of life using the ratio of both internal products. Indemnity for death, in Portugal, varied from 20 351 to 227 915 euros (medium 83 387 euros). In Spain they varied from 33 815 to 194 383 euros (medium 108 914 euros). Indemnity for temporary incapacity with or without permanent lesions in Portugal varied from 956 to 399 105 euros (medium 90 201 euros) and in Spain from 3 488 to 365 152 euros (medium 99 104 euros). Considering major incapacity only medium indemnity was 88 331 euros in Portugal and 219 185 euros in Spain. By the other hand, considering cases with incapacity below 50%, medium indemnity was 57 978 euros in Portugal and 39 918 in Spain. In Portugal time lapsing between the accident and final court decision was up to 13 years. Both systems seem equally effective in evaluating damage and determining indemnity even if major incapacity is more valued in Spain. However Spanish system may achieve more rapid decisions with less cost.