The High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has ordered the Generalitat, Catalonia’s regional government, to compensate the family of David Pérez Sempere, who died after his car left the C-59 near Sant Feliu de Codines on 19 November 2021.

The final ruling found shared responsibility for the crash: Pérez was responsible for leaving the road, while the Conselleria de Territori, the Generalitat department responsible for regional transport infrastructure, bore 50% responsibility because of deficiencies in the road’s safety measures. The court therefore reduced the family’s claim by half, according to 20minutos.

For drivers using the C-59 through Vallès Oriental, the decision identifies the road authority’s duty to provide adequate safety measures where known hazards exist. It does not remove the finding that the driver’s actions contributed to the fatal crash.

A car found below the road two days after the crash

Pérez, a 21-year-old from Sabadell, was driving a Peugeot 206 when it left the road at kilometre 23.1 of the C-59, on a bend before Sant Feliu de Codines when travelling from Moià. The vehicle fell about nine metres down a slope.

Police found the overturned car, concealed by vegetation, two days later after his family reported him missing. Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia’s regional police, concluded that driver error, probably linked to distraction, was the main cause of the crash.

The police investigation said Pérez had misjudged the sharpness of the bend and was too late to correct the vehicle’s path. Investigators found no tyre marks indicating a sudden manoeuvre; the car travelled straight on, struck rocks at the road edge and went down the ravine.

“My son fell into the void. With proper protection, the accident would not have happened.”Ester Sempere, David Pérez Sempere’s mother

Safety barriers were installed after the fatal crash

Within weeks of the crash, authorities installed double barriers designed to stop vehicles leaving the road at the bend. Reflectors and vertical warning signs were also added, according to contemporaneous reporting by ARA.

The family’s lawyer, Ángel Aso, had argued that the road authority knew the stretch was dangerous and sought compensation for the family’s moral harm. The Generalitat’s legal representation and its insurer argued that the administration had met its road-signage and safety obligations, and that responsibility lay solely with the driver.

The family is considering donating the full compensation sum to an organisation supporting similar causes. The ruling does not state the amount of compensation in the supplied reporting.

Reported by 20minutos.es, en.ara.cat, recallcheck.net, europapress.es, onacodinenca.cat, ACN, aviation-safety.net, ntsb-reports.com.

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