Tort Claims and Compensation in Romania

I represent you either as the victim, claiming compensation for material loss and non-pecuniary damages, or as the person being held liable for the loss, before the Cluj courts and in negotiations with the insurer.

It’s the part of civil law that covers accidents, damage to property, personal injury, flooding from a neighbour’s flat and loss caused by animals and things.

What are the conditions for liability for your own acts?

Everyone must respect the rules of conduct that the law or local custom imposes and must not harm the rights or legitimate interests of others. Anyone who breaks these rules while having discernment (discernământ) is liable for all the loss caused and must make it good in full (art. 1.349(1) and (2) of the Civil Code). In practice, you have to prove:

• the unlawful act, whether an action or a failure to act;
• the loss, pecuniary or non-pecuniary;
• the causal link between the act and the loss;
• the fault of the wrongdoer, who is liable even for the slightest fault (art. 1.357).

If the victim contributed, intentionally or through fault, to causing or increasing the loss, the wrongdoer is liable only for the part they caused (art. 1.371(1)). When several people are liable for the same act, they are jointly and severally liable (art. 1.382).

When are you liable for someone else, for things or for animals?

The Civil Code sets out cases in which you’re liable without having done anything yourself (art. 1.349(3)):

• the act of a minor: anyone required by law, contract or court judgment to supervise a minor, or a person under judicial counselling (consiliere judiciară) or special guardianship (tutelă specială), is liable for the loss that person causes (art. 1.372);
• the act of an employee or agent (prepus): the principal (comitent) is liable for loss caused by the people acting on its behalf whenever the act is connected to their duties or to the purpose of the role entrusted to them (art. 1.373);
• animals: the owner, or the person using the animal, is liable regardless of any fault, even if the animal escaped their control (art. 1.375);
• things: anyone is liable, regardless of any fault, for the loss caused by a thing in their custody (pază), including in a collision between vehicles (art. 1.376);
• collapse of a building (ruina edificiului): the owner is liable for the loss caused by the collapse of the building or by parts falling off it, if this results from a lack of maintenance or a construction defect (art. 1.378).

For things, animals and building collapse, there’s no obligation to compensate when the loss is caused exclusively by the victim’s own act, by a third party’s act or by force majeure (forță majoră), under art. 1.380.

What compensation can you obtain?

Any loss gives rise to a right to compensation, which arises on the day the loss is caused (art. 1.381 of the Civil Code). The loss is compensated in full: compensation covers the loss suffered, the gain you missed out on and the expenses incurred to avoid or limit the damage, and future loss is compensated if it’s certain to occur (art. 1.385).

In a case of injury to bodily integrity or health, compensation covers lost earnings, the cost of medical care and the costs that come from increased living needs (art. 1.387). Non-pecuniary damages (daune morale) come on top. The direct victim can receive compensation for the restriction of their family and social life. Since 19 December 2025, the close persons set out by law have this right too (art. 1.391(1)). For the grief caused by the victim’s death, compensation can be claimed by the ascendants, descendants, brothers, sisters and spouse, as well as by any other person who proves such a loss (art. 1.391(2)).

Road accidents: who pays, the at-fault driver or the insurer?

The legal basis is still the civil liability of the at-fault driver (art. 1.357 and art. 1.376(2) of the Civil Code), but payment usually comes from the compulsory motor liability insurer (asigurător RCA). The injured person can submit the compensation claim directly to the at-fault driver’s RCA insurer or, under direct settlement (decontare directă), to their own insurer (art. 20(1) of Law no. 132/2017). Within 30 days of receiving the claim, the insurer must either make a reasoned compensation offer in writing or tell you why it’s rejecting the claim, in whole or in part (art. 21(1)). Accepted compensation is paid within 10 days, and late payment carries penalties of 0.2% per day (art. 21(4) and (5)).

For bodily injury and non-pecuniary damages that end up in court, the court decides on the penalties and their payment (art. 21(6) of Law no. 132/2017).

How long do you have to claim compensation?

Check the last day of the time limit with the court deadline calculator.

Tort or contractual liability?

If the loss comes from a failure to perform a contract, the rules of contractual liability apply, and the parties can’t opt for the tort rules (art. 1.350(3) of the Civil Code). The practical differences:

How recovering your loss works

1. I look at what happened and the documents you have, and tell you what you can claim.
2. We gather the evidence of the loss.
3. I send a notice to the person liable or file the compensation claim with the RCA insurer, and negotiate the offer.
4. If we can’t reach an agreement, I file the claim at the district court (judecătorie) if it’s worth up to and including 200,000 lei, or at the tribunal if it’s worth more, under art. 94 point 1(k) and art. 95 point 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Codul de procedură civilă). When the act is a crime, I can instead join you as a civil party in the criminal proceedings.
5. If a judgment isn’t complied with voluntarily, we move on to enforcement (executare silită).

Court stamp duty (taxă judiciară de timbru) on compensation claimed in money is calculated on the value of the claim, under art. 3(1) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 80/2013 (OUG 80/2013); you can estimate it with the stamp duty calculator.

What documents you need

• the incident report (proces-verbal de constatare), the police report or any official document about the incident;
• medical records, sick leave certificates, proof of treatment costs;
• photos, recordings, witnesses;
• invoices, repair estimates and expert reports for damaged property;
• the at-fault driver’s RCA policy and your correspondence with the insurer, for road accidents.

The consolidated text of the Civil Code is on legislatie.just.ro. If you’ve suffered a loss or are being held liable for one, write to me or call me.