Legal responsibilities of relevant parties
The case of a "death hole" swallowing a car and causing cracks and subsidence of a house in the Capital Square 3 Urban Area project has raised a big question about the legal responsibility of the parties involved.
According to Lawyer Le Xuan Canh - Executive Director of CTTT and Associates Law Firm (Da Nang City Bar Association), the determination of the responsibility of the investor and/or construction unit will be determined based on relevant legal regulations and the agreed content of the parties in the construction contract.
First of all, regarding civil liability, the investor and the construction unit causing the incident must compensate the owner of the car and households with houses affected by the construction. Article 605 of the 2015 Civil Code clearly stipulates that the owner of the construction work must compensate for the damage caused by that construction work.
"In case the contractor has a mistake leading to damage, there must be joint compensation," Mr. Canh emphasized.
According to lawyer Canh, the Construction Law requires the construction of works to have measures to ensure absolute safety for people, construction equipment and adjacent works. If in this case, the competent authority determines that there is a violation of construction regulations causing property damage of VND100 million or more, the individual involved may be prosecuted for criminal liability for "Crime of violating construction regulations causing serious consequences" under Article 298 of the Penal Code.
Procedures for claiming compensation for damages to people
Faced with the material damage, many people are still confused about how to protect their legitimate rights. Lawyer Le Xuan Canh said that to request compensation, collecting evidence is the first important step.
According to Article 589 of the Bank for Industry and Trade, people who are damaged by violated property have the right to request compensation for items such as damaged or destroyed property values; benefits associated with the use of lost or impaired assets and reasonable costs to prevent, limit and remedy the damage.
Therefore, vehicle owners who are automobiles can request compensation for repair costs, rescue costs and costs arising from travel and travel during the vehicle repair period... and vehicle owners need to collect and store payment documents and invoices as a basis for compensation requests.
As for people whose houses and construction works are cracked and subsided, it is necessary to proactively take photos, record videos to record the current damage in detail and contact a specialized construction unit to assess the damage, solutions and costs to overcome the damage. At the same time, report the incident to the competent authority to record and take measures to request the investor/construction unit to fix the incident, propose a plan to remedy the damage, and compensate the affected people. In case the negotiation does not achieve results, the people have the right to file a lawsuit with the competent People's Court to request a resolution.
"To make the Court accept the compensation request, it is necessary to prove 4 factors: actual damage occurred, the act of causing damage was an illegal act of the construction party, there was a causative relationship between the act and the damage, and there was an element of intentional or unintentional fault of the party causing the damage," lawyer Canh noted.
The conclusion of the authorities on the cause of the incident will be an important basis to ensure the legitimate rights of those affected.
