Accident Due to Improper Bridge Maintenance: Court Ordered Recovery of Over 446 Thousand Hryvnias from the Restoration Service
The judge of the Central District Court of Mykolaiv considered a lawsuit filed by a local resident against the Service for the Restoration and Development of Infrastructure in the Mykolaiv Region seeking compensation for material and moral damages caused by a traffic accident. This was reported by the Central District Court of Mykolaiv.
In support of his claims, the plaintiff stated that in December 2024 he was involved in a traffic accident on a bridge, which was not his fault but resulted from the defendant's improper maintenance of the bridge.
Specifically, while driving, a metal structure flew out from under the rear wheels of the truck ahead, hitting the front part of his vehicle, causing it to spin and be thrown across two lanes of traffic. The incident occurred in the evening when there was no lighting on the bridge. The bridge's maintenance authority failed to ensure road safety at the location of an open joint between the connected spans of the structure, which caused the accident.
The defendant's representative opposed the claim, providing information that the Service had a contract with a contractor for repairs, including the mentioned section, and therefore the contractor should compensate for the damages.
However, after reviewing the case materials, the court concluded that the Service for the Restoration and Development of Infrastructure is the proper defendant. Furthermore, the case materials do not contain information about repair work being carried out by the contractor on this section.
Based on the review, the court concluded that the Service did not ensure safe road conditions and allowed an obstacle on the bridge that caused the accident. No evidence was provided to refute these conclusions.
The court ordered the Service for the Restoration and Development of Infrastructure in Mykolaiv Region to pay the plaintiff 426,118 UAH for material damages and 20,000 UAH for moral damages.
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