Liability for damage caused by wild animals in light of legal regulations and the judicial decision of the Constitutional Tribunal

Abstract

This article aims to present the issue of liability for damage caused by wild animals and to signal the need to amend legal regulations governing civil liability for the damage caused by game and protected species of animals. The paper is based on source texts, mainly the Game Laws Act, the Nature Protection Act and the Animal Protection Act, documentation evidencing problems faced by aggrieved persons, parliamentary interpellations and motions addressed to the authorities, as well as documentation connected with the decision of 3 July 2013 (P 49/11) by the Constitutional Tribunal.

The legislator has provided for special liability rules governing the liability for the damage caused by certain animal species from the list of game and protected species. The possibility of applying these rules depends on the type of damaged property and on the magnitude of that damage. In the decision issued on 3 July 2013 the Constitutional Tribunal declared it unconstitutional that the regulations, under the Nature Protection Act, make the award of compensation conditional on the type of property to which the damage was caused.

In light of the above decision and in response to injured persons’ demands and considering the demands of the injured persons and the scale of the damage suffered, it is desirable to change the regulations governing civil liability for damage caused by these animals.