Khaberni - The act of a minor filming a traffic accident and publishing it on social media platforms led to his criminal conviction, and his father (as his natural guardian) was obligated to pay compensation amounting to 10,000 dirhams to the vehicle driver shown in the video.
The Al Ain Court of Civil, Commercial, and Administrative Affairs reported that the defendant, as the guardian of the minor who caused damage to the plaintiff, was legally obligated to supervise his son, but he failed to prove to the court that he fulfilled his supervisory duties.
In detail, a person filed a lawsuit against a man, in his capacity as the natural guardian of his minor son, demanding that he be compelled to pay 100,000 dirhams in compensation for material and moral damages that affected his reputation and dignity, in addition to fees, expenses, and legal fees, based on the fact that his son filmed the vehicle he was driving which had an accident, and published the clip on social media without his knowledge or consent, pointing out that the video clip was widely shared.
While the conviction of the defendant's son criminally was confirmed, the defendant submitted a responsive memorandum in which he requested at the conclusion the rejection of the lawsuit, obliging the plaintiff to pay fees, expenses, and attorney fees.
For its part, the court indicated in the reasoning of its ruling that it is established, from reviewing the papers and documents and the copy of the criminal judgment issued against the defendant's son, that he committed an act that constitutes a breach of public order by publishing the filmed clip using one of the information technology means.
It pointed out that this unlawful act - on which the criminal lawsuit was based - is what the plaintiff bases his civil lawsuit on. The criminal judgment convicted the accused (the defendant's son) as the accusation attributed to him of filming and publishing was proven, and thus this ruling conclusively determined the occurrence of the act forming the common basis between the criminal and civil suits, and the legal description of this act, attributing it to its perpetrator.
Regarding the compensation claim, the court mentioned that every harm to others obliges the doer, even if not discerning, to guarantee the damage, pointing out that the fault of the defendant's son is proven, and resulted in harm to the plaintiff, which manifested in psychological and material pain he suffered, and with the causal relationship between the fault and damage, the defendant is legally obligated to compensate.
The court clarified that the plaintiff filed his lawsuit against the defendant in his capacity as the guardian of his minor son who caused the damage, and since it was not proven to the court that he had fulfilled his supervisory duties over him, his responsibility and commitment to perform the ordered compensation to the plaintiff were established.
The court ruled to obligate him to pay compensation in the amount of 10,000 dirhams, and 300 dirhams for attorney fees.
