He suddenly found it in front of him at night in the overtaking lane as soon as he rounded the bend: avoiding the impact with the roe deer that was crossing the road was not possible. The animal was hit and died instantly. Despite proceeding at low speed, the motorist ended up hitting the guardrail to avoid the ungulate, damaging his car. The events, which occurred in the industrial area of Fano, date back to April 2019. A few days ago there was a sentence issued by the Court of Pesaro following the action brought by the motorist and the Marche Region was sentenced to compensation. “In the Marche region it often happens that wild animals cross roads and drivers find themselves in front of them without being able to avoid the impact, consequently suffering serious damage to the car”, underlines to Adnkronos the lawyer Tiziana Zeppa Bartoletti, legal of the motorist involved in the events in Fano. “The problem – he continues – is the compensation of the damage which is always contested and is bounced between the various public bodies. In the specific case, the court issued an interesting ruling regarding the liability of the Public Administration for damage caused by wildlife “.
“A well-motivated sentence that follows the recent orientation of the Supreme Court – observes Bartoletti – leads back to the responsibility of public bodies (art. 2052 of the Civil Code), which however presupposes a series of evidence on the part of those requesting compensation such as the connection of causality between the damage and the animal’s conduct and to have done everything possible to avoid it by adopting all appropriate caution when driving”. Circumstances that are difficult to prove, which is why the lawyer. Bartoletti believes that the recent ruling “can open the way to a series of actions to protect the citizen’s interest”.
The wild species protected pursuant to law 157 of 1992 fall within the unavailable heritage of the State and are entrusted to the care and management of public entities for the general protection of the environment and ecosystem. With the Region, regarding the aforementioned episode, mediation was attempted but the “negotiation was rejected, so we were forced to take legal action”, recalls the lawyer. After five years and at the end of the proceedings, the Marche Region was sentenced to compensate the motorist for the collision with the roe deer. “The decision of the Court of Pesaro undoubtedly gives hope to citizens: in most cases, in fact, the public body refuses a priori any type of amicable negotiation”, concludes Bartoletti.
