The Administrative Appeals Chamber of San Martín has ruled Increase compensation for a driver whose vehicle was damaged by a falling treean event that occurred in 2018 at a party in the western part of Buenos Aires province. According to the ruling, the court also changed several compensation concepts and updated the values according to the economic depreciation recorded since the incident.
The incident occurred on the morning of April 23, 2018, when a Man He left in his private car, a Fiat Palio adventure. At that moment, a tree planted on the sidewalk fell and hit his car. The impact caused a head injury that required medical attention at a local public hospital and the use of a neck brace. According to the decision, eyewitnesses helped the driver while neighbors alerted emergency services.
The driver filed a lawsuit against the municipality for damages and claims this The tree’s fall was due to a lack of care and municipal control over public trees. He sought compensation for property damage, loss of value to his vehicle, medical expenses, loss of use of the car and loss of earnings because he was unable to work as a driver for several weeks.
The lawsuit was examined in the first instance by the Administrative Court No. 2, which issued a judgment in 2023. This judgment recognized the state’s responsibility for the inadequate provision of public services and ordered the municipality to pay 158,037 pesos to the actor. The judge evaluated witness statements and expert evidence confirming the mechanisms of the incident and the material damage, but attributed everything to historical values from 2020 and rejected concepts such as lost profits and deprivation of use.
Both parties appealed. The driver was upset by the low level of compensation and the inflation-related devaluation of the estimated amounts, arguing that the values should be adjusted at the time of actual payment. He also questioned the exclusion of lost profits and loss of use. Meanwhile, the municipality disputed the mechanisms of the event, questioned the causal connection between the trees and the damage and rejected the evidentiary nature of the documents submitted.
The Court of Appeals examined the case and reviewed the evidence, legal interpretations and the development of the concepts of state responsibility and value debt. According to the court’s analysis, responsibility for the failure to preserve urban trees in accordance with the Civil and Commercial Code, state law and other regulatory norms lies with the municipality.
The chamber also pointed out in its decision that a dilution of the repair value due to inflation must be avoided. On this basis, the judges updated the amounts recognized by the engineering industry using the consumer price index and applied the reference stabilization coefficient, a reference value used by the Central Bank, for the following period.
The amount for car repairs, which was one of the main points of discussion, fell $118,037 was initially estimated at $3,672,045 to values updated to 2025. The court reasoned that compensation for consequential damages must reflect full compensation and not be distorted by elapsed time and economic fluctuations.
Regarding the “loss in market value” of the vehicle, the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to accurately calculate this point because the mechanical expert was unable to examine the vehicle. Nevertheless, he considered it justified to recognize this and set the amount at $400,000 with criteria of appropriateness and caution based on the age, the model and the list of damages proven by documents and witness statements.
Regarding “medical care, pharmacy and mobility costs”, the judges assessed the context of care in a public hospital, but considered it appropriate to award an amount for medication and travel as a result of the injury. They updated this concept $50,000on the grounds that the severity of the injuries and the recovery necessarily required certain payouts.
With regard to the “withdrawal of use” that was rejected in the first instance, the court considered it proven that the actor had to do without his car for 17 working days – according to the report – and recognized this $100,000 in this section. The court cited previous cases in which it found that the mere proportionality between the damage and the deprivation of property justified compensation, even in the absence of concrete evidence.
The item “lost profit” was not permitted by the Chamber. The judges considered that although the witness statements referred to the actor’s work as a truck driver, the continuity or exclusivity of this work was not officially confirmed. The alleged inability to work after the accident could not be proven by documents or medical reports.
The update of the interest rate was also a relevant point. The court found that the amounts must bear interest at a pure rate of 6% per year from the event – in 2018 – to the date of the Chamber’s decision. At the time of payment, the highest passive interest rate of the Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires will then apply for a fixed term of 30 days, in accordance with the current jurisprudence of Buenos Aires and the practices of the controversial administrative jurisdiction.
The municipality was ordered to pay the full legal costs (disbursements) of the appeal process as its main claims were dismissed and most of the driver’s complaints were accepted. The regulation of fees was reserved for a later stage of the procedure.
The case reveals current challenges in the management of urban trees and the adequacy of compensation for damage caused by public domain assets. The resolution underlines the importance of updated quantification to protect the rights of those claiming damages against public administrations.
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