The court ruling rendered by the Tbilisi City Court imposed the compensation of the damage in favour of a disabled person on the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Georgia and one of the museums under the supervision of the same Ministry. According to the Court ruling, the plaintiff was compensated for the moral damage caused by health injury in the amount of 10 000 GEL, as well as the expenses of the treatment abroad and the costs of treatment carried out in Georgia, and was allocated a monthly allowance until he/she has the disability status.
The plaintiff received serious health damage in May 2014 when he was visiting the museum with his son. While they were looking round the museum, suddenly the structure of the balcony rail collapsed and pushed the plaintiff’s to fall off the balcony. As a result of the accident, the plaintiff was permanently diagnosed with the status of a disability and as of today he cannot move independently because of the spinal damage. Moreover, the plaintiff has become incapable of performing his professional activities.
In the course of the case deliberation, it was revealed that the administration of the museum violated the safety norms and did not properly take care of the building strength, which inflicted the damage on the plaintiff's health. Besides this, it was revealed that the renovation works in the museum were not yet completed at the moment of the accident, but the museum administration still allowed the museum visitors into the territory of the museum, thus threatening the lives and health of visitors.
According to the Court, as the balcony rail of the house museum had not been rehabilitated for a long time, the museum and the Ministry, as a controlling body, was obliged to pay adequate attention to the condition of the building and properly assess the dangers.
GYLA defended the applicant's interests in the court. The decision has already entered into a legal effect.