When a wall belonging to the City Hall of Granada collapsed, damaging a car beside it, they argued that it was badly parked… However, the judge didn’t agree.

On a sunny July the 11th a rented car was parked half on the pavement next to a wall on Calle Corbeta. For no apparently reason, the wall fell over, showering the parked car with rubble.

The car-rental company put a claim before the City Hall for the damages caused, as the wall was municipal property, but they were dismayed to hear that the City Council rejected the claim, as they considered that the car shouldn’t have been there.

So it went to court.

Now, seven years later – the wall long since disappeared and a play-park, picket fence in its place – the judge sentenced that the City Hall has to hand 3,512 euros to the claimant: 2,829 euros for the damage itself and the rest for further expenses incurred.

There can be no appeal against the judge’s decision.

The said judge was scathing in his findings concerning the City Hall’s position, saying that the Council bears the responsibility of making sure that private owners keep such structures in a safe and stable condition so it is doubly reproachable that the municipal authority has failed to control structures actually belonging to it.

He concluded by pointing out that if a car is badly parked it should be towed away or the owner fined – toppling a wall onto it is not considered suitable action.

(News: Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)