Van Bael & Bellis successfully assists the relatives of a murdered Commission Official in an action for damage
- 09/05/2022
- News
In a judgment delivered on 5 May 2022, the Court of Justice ended a 13-year long dispute between the family of Alessandro Missir, a Commission official who was murdered while on mission in Rabat, Morocco, and the Commission. The long dispute involved all courts of the European Union, including the then-Civil Service Tribunal, the General Court (both as a judge of first instance and of appeal) and the Court of Justice.
For the first time in history, the Court of Justice ruled that the closest family members of an EU official are entitled to obtain compensation for the material and moral damage suffered as a consequence of its death, if it has been established that the EU institution acted with negligence by failing to provide full protection to the official at stake as foreseen by the applicable staff rules. Moreover, the Court of Justice held that the EU institutions are jointly and severally liable and must pay full compensation even if another subject (e.g., the murderer) has contributed to causing the damage.
With this latest judgment, the Court definitively established that the right to compensation is not only available to the official's ascendants and descendants but must also be extended to siblings.
The Missir family was represented by Fabrizio Di Gianni, Gabriele Coppo and Aldo Scalini.
A copy of the judgment is available here.
