The ice has broken

The Nizhny Novgorod case of a fallen icicle may reach Strasbourg

The material compensation for a fallen icicle, a record for Russia, may be further increased. Recently, the administration of Nizhny Novgorod and seven other Nizhny Novgorod companies paid 1.2 million rubles. former student Dmitry Nekrasov, who became disabled due to the negligence of utility workers. However, Mr. Nekrasov’s lawyer Oleg Prokhorov is confident that his client was not paid everything that was due, and did not rule out the possibility of appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.

The case of Dmitry Nekrasov has already become precedent-setting for Russia, where icicles falling from roofs every year injure or even maim hundreds of people. For the first time in domestic judicial practice, a citizen achieved significant compensation for damage to health. As our newspaper has already reported , four years ago, Dmitry Nekrasov, a student at the Faculty of Finance and Economics of the Nizhny Novgorod State University named after Lobachevsky, was hit by a block of ice at the exit from the building of his native faculty. And he was later recognized as a disabled person of the second group - he could no longer study and take care of himself on his own.

The building does not belong to the university - the temple of science only rents premises for classes in the house on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street, 60. A lawsuit was filed against the owners of the building. According to Father Dmitry Nekrasov, until the last moment, few people believed that the former student’s claim for financial compensation would be brought to completion. Especially considering that the city administration was among the defendants. Moreover, none of the regulations of Russian legislation indicated the amount that the plaintiff has the right to demand for damage to health from a falling icicle.

However, contrary to expectations, a precedent was created. Moreover, the authorities did not challenge the verdict and paid the amount appointed by the court. But Dmitry Nekrasov’s parents do not intend to stop there, especially since the recent student’s condition requires serious medical attention. According to Dmitry’s father, Vladimir Nekrasov, the family sent a letter to the regional health department in which they asked to organize a high-quality medical examination for the young man in clinics in Moscow or St. Petersburg. There was no response from regional officials.

The Nekrasovs' lawyer Oleg Prokhorov believes that new court hearings in this case are just around the corner. As Mr. Prokhorov explained to Vremya Novostey, the issue “of paying a compensation amount of 38 thousand rubles, which was spent by the Nekrasovs on Dmitry’s sanatorium-resort treatment,” remained unresolved. The fact is that at first doctors did not recommend that Dmitry undergo a course of sanatorium rehabilitation. However, it soon became clear that he still needed such treatment. But the amount needed for these purposes was not included in the first statement of claim. In addition, the victim’s parents insist that Dmitry be assigned the first disability group, since the young man currently has impaired memory, speech and orientation. When moving, Nekrasov needs to be accompanied by strangers.

Finally, the Nekrasovs want those responsible for the tragedy of their family to be named, and are trying to prevent similar cases in the future. Lawyer Prokhorov intends to seek continuation of the criminal case for untimely cleaning of the roof, which is currently suspended. Since it is still not known for certain who is legally to blame for the fact that ice blocks were left hanging on the eaves of the building on that ill-fated day. A lawsuit is also being prepared demanding that the owners of the companies located in the building be required to install protective canopies on the roof.

Vyacheslav ANTONOV