In Hungary, approximately 14,000 traffic accidents resulting in personal injuries occur each year. Of these, around 4,000 involve serious injuries, and sadly, nearly five hundred result in fatalities*.
It is a very common question what actions can be taken and what rights one has if their own or a relative’s physical integrity is harmed in a traffic accident.
The Civil Code — as well as, of course, the Fundamental Law — explicitly recognizes the right to life, physical integrity, and health as personal rights (Civil Code, Section 2:43 (1)(a); Fundamental Law, Articles II and XX). According to Section 2:52 (1) of the Civil Code, anyone whose personal rights are violated may claim compensation for non-pecuniary damages suffered. In connection with traffic accidents, the compensation typically relates to the violation of the personal right to life and physical integrity.
On our website, we will provide detailed information about the typical amounts of compensation claims that can be enforced in various cases. However, as a general summary, it can be stated that the amount of compensation always depends on the specific circumstances of each case. There is no fixed or tabulated list specifying in advance what compensation can be claimed for particular types of injuries. At the same time, both the Civil Code and judicial practice have developed fundamental rules that can serve as useful guidelines based on the case details. This helps us avoid the mistake of requesting either an unreasonably low or excessively high amount in negotiations with the liability insurer or directly with the liable party—resulting, respectively, in a worthless settlement or an unnecessary and avoidable lawsuit.
The Civil Code regulates this issue by giving the court guidance to determine the amount of compensation based on the circumstances of the case, especially considering:
a) the severity of the violation, in particular how the accident—or the wrongful conduct that caused it—has changed the injured party’s life and lifestyle (for example, the person can no longer perform certain activities they regularly did before, or an active athlete had to give up their career), their quality of life (for example, requiring ongoing medical treatment, or suffering permanent disability), and their future prospects (for example, being unable to perform work corresponding to their qualifications). Additionally, the court must generally take into account the social condemnation of the particular violation.
b) the potential repetitive nature of the violation,
c) the degree of culpability, that is, to what extent the person responsible for the damage deviated from the behavior expected under the circumstances (for example, causing the accident while intoxicated or even intentionally—such as by deliberate harsh braking),
d) the impact of the violation on the injured party and their environment, taking into account not only the disadvantages suffered by the injured person but also those experienced by their family members,
must determine it — in a lump sum.
In line with the above, judicial practice
a) takes into account the non-pecuniary disadvantages suffered by the injured party,
b) assesses the impact of these specified disadvantages on the injured person’s life,
c) compares these specific disadvantages and their negative effects, as well as the facts established based on the legal conditions outlined above in the Civil Code, with previous cases of similar facts and the amounts of compensation awarded in judicial decisions in similar cases; in doing so, it adjusts these previous decisions to reflect current price and value conditions (e.g., inflation adjustment), and
d) takes into account all other individual circumstances when assessing the amount.
It follows from the above that
- it is fundamentally incorrect to ask what amount of compensation for pain and suffering we are entitled to for a bone fracture sustained in an accident, because the amount of such compensation is not determined solely by the nature or severity of the injury itself, but rather by the effect that injury has had on the claimant’s life (for example, if a similar type of leg fracture results in a slight limp, the impact on the quality of life of a sedentary office worker will be different than that of a forward playing for Fradi/Újpest),
- determining the realistically enforceable amount of compensation requires thorough research—on one hand, a detailed exploration of the circumstances of the case, including a careful listening to the client, and on the other hand, complex legal research. This work should never be entrusted to one’s intuition or to the seemingly all-knowing internet; rather, one should seek out a specialist with substantive experience in the field of compensation law.
dr. Attila Megyesi, specialist lawyer in compensation law, attorney, Dr. Megyesi Law Office