What is civil law?
Civil law concerns the rights and obligations people have towards each other and provides a system of remedies. For example, the court may order the defendant to pay damages, which are an amount of money to compensate for the harm done, or the courts may order the losing party to pay the court fees of the winning party.
How are damages calculated? How much am I likely to receive if I win my case?
If the court awards you damages, the court takes into consideration:
- the level of disability (assessed by a court appointed medical expert) of the victim
- the income of the victim before the incident
- the remaining working life expectancy (taking into consideration the victim’s age, change in job rank and cost-of-living increase)
- moral damages, this would be a compensation for mental distress caused due to the crime.
The rough formula for calculating compensation is:
Yearly Income x Percentage Disability x Remaining years till pension – 20% lump sum payment
Next page: Victims’ Guidebook Part 6 – Fundamental Human Rights