Department Α of the State Council chaired by Vice Chairman Nicholas Sakellariou, rapporteur Assistant Charalambos Komnenos aligned with the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and ruled that the father in law and mother in law are entitled to compensation for damages in the event of death.

Please note that the Supreme Court in a series of decisions has held for years that the father in law and mother in law entitled to compensation in such cases.

In particular, in October 2000, a 26 year old mother, after the birth of the fourth child, died of sepsis and septic shock, as the director of the gynecological clinic of the Kalamata hospital forgot a piece of the placenta in the uterus. The director of the Kalamata hospital was found guilty by the Three-Member Misdemeanor Court and charged with 3.5 years in prison for manslaughter and the obstetrician to 2 years' imprisonment.

In the Court of Appeal the sentence was reduced to Director to 2.5 years (and confirmed by a final decision of the Supreme Court), while the obstetrician was acquitted. The relatives of the 26 year old (spouse, minor children, father and mother, brother and mother in law) turned against the hospital claiming damages of several million euros in compensation for the anguish suffered.The Administrative Court awarded to all relatives, even to the mother in law (200,000 euros), the total amount of EUR 2,510,720.

The Administrative Court of Appeal reduced the amount of compensation to 1.303 million euros. Part of this compensation the Court of Appeal ruled that it should be given to all the relatives in cash and additionally it decided that for the spouse and the children the rest of the compensation should be paid in monthly installments until 2049 in the form of alimony, while the other third part of the compensation should be paid back each month to the children until their adulthood.

However, the Court of Appeal held that the mother in law is not entitled to compensation as not belonging to the family within the meaning of the Civil Code, nor there is relevant law from the State Council on this topic.

On the contrary the State Council ruled that among the persons entitled to compensation "except from the spouse and the blood relatives in direct line and to the second degree, are included those through marriage of first degree (father in law, mother in law, bride and groom)." It overturned the decision of the Court of Appeal court on the part concerning the payment of compensation to the mother in law and remitted the case to the Court of Appeal for a new crisis and redefinition of the amounts of compensation.

Source: www.iefimerida.gr/