The Teguise City Council must compensate with 319,634.28 euros to the family of a citizen who died on Lambra beach in La Graciosa on August 24, 2020.
The Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands thus confirmed the judgment of first instance issued by the Contentious-Administrative Court number 3 of Las Palmas that attributed to the consistory "the patrimonial responsibility" for the damages in the death of the 69-year-old man.
Specifically, the ruling to which La Voz has accessed resolved that the Teguise City Council expressly acknowledged "the absence of any information about the dangerousness of the beach and in the face of adverse weather phenomena", as it was a day of "rough seas, strong wind and considerable waves". The beach did not have flags or signs indicating the state of the sea or the dangerousness of the beach.
In addition, the Chamber noted that the consistory did not take "active measures" to prohibit bathing and only had a maritime rescue ring on the entire beach, despite being "classified as dangerous, and this measure being "obviously insufficient" for the Court.
In this line, the Court assured that Teguise "violated the coast law" and that this beach must have a yellow flag indicating it, as well as signs at the entrances and in visible spaces that explain the meaning of the flags, and rescue services that update the information.
If there are no rescue services due to the low influx of visitors, "it will expressly state on the sign that the beach lacks assistance and rescue service", the judicial ruling recalls.
The widow of the deceased, in her name and that of her two children, claimed in February 2021 the payment of patrimonial responsibility before the Teguise consistory, which was rejected. In June 2022, she filed a contentious-administrative appeal against the dismissal.
The Chamber agreed with her and declared the consistory's resolution null and recognized the right of his wife and children to be compensated. At that time, the amount of compensation amounted to 288,871 euros, plus default interest. Despite this, the Government Group appealed to the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, but the appeal was dismissed.
Teguise denied that there was "a defective operation in the municipal action" and also blamed the victim exclusively for what happened, according to the aforementioned ruling.
A legal report from the Teguise City Council urges the consistory to comply with the judicial resolution and pay the 288,871 euros, plus 30,763.28 euros of interest for the death of this citizen. In addition, the same document advises to conduct a study and carry out the pertinent procedures to claim this money, if applicable, from the insurance company Zurich Insurance PLC.
"We are working to ensure that the insurance covers this expense. Now we have approved the remainder to have that money there, but we are doing the procedures to see if the insurance covers it," said the Teguise councilor Eugenio Robayna in statements to La Voz.
