On 13 November 2020, the Supreme Court passed judgment no. 4056/2020, which analyses whether the statute of limitations and/or the expiry of civil liability in criminal proceedings can be applied.

Specifically, the Provincial Court of Barcelona sentenced a person to pay compensation of more than 130,000 euros in damages for the commission of a forest fire offence.

In September 2001, the judgment became final, and the defendant was required to pay the aforementioned compensation a few months later, in November of the same year. However, after that order was made, no further summons was issued to the convicted party until 22 November 2016, when the Barcelona Provincial Court issued an order declaring that the civil liability was time-barred.

This decision was appealed at the Civil and Criminal Division of the High Court of Catalonia, which on 19 March 2018 passed a new judgement overturning the previous one and upholding the imprescriptibly of civil liability arising from a criminal conviction.

Against this decision, the convicted party lodged an appeal in cassation before the Supreme Court, which eventually confirmed that the civil liability derived from the criminal action is not subject to the statute of limitations. The judgment highlights the special configuration of the enforcement process in criminal sentences where the five-year limitation period established in the law is no longer applicable.

The judgment holds that in criminal proceedings “the protection of the crime victim establishes a very specific requirement of protection”. For this reason, the execution of sentences is carried out ex officio and not at the request of a party. This special configuration is due to the recognition of a right for the victim which cannot disappear over time and which does not require enforcement action to make it effective. Consequently, it makes no sense to establish a limitation period for exercising this right.

María Elías
Disputes Area