Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: C-15207/13
    • Member State: Bulgaria
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Court decision in appeal
    • Decision date: 19/06/2014
    • Court: Sofia City Court
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: ODANS TRAVEL ЕООD
    • Defendant: P.M.I. and H.B.I.
    • Keywords: package travel
  • Directive Articles
    Package Travel Directive, Article 4, 7. Package Travel Directive, Article 5, 1.
  • Headnote
    Consumers are entitled to monetary compensation for general damages (non-monetary losses) inflicted by the organizer’s non-performance of a package travel contract.
  • Facts
    The defendants filed a claim with the Sofia Regional Court against the plaintiff. They claimed that, among other violations, their holiday to Italy was spoiled due to technical failure of the bus they were traveling with. The defendants even organized their travel back to Bulgaria on their own, by a bus of another organizer. As a result the defendants did not receive the entire trip they booked and experienced discomfort and distress due to the insecurity of how they would return to Bulgaria.
    The Sofia Regional Court awarded the claims of the defendants for BGN 200 each for monetary damages and BGN 250 each for general damages (non-monetary losses).
    Consequently, the plaintiff submitted to the Sofia City Court the penalty decree for judicial review but the court denied the plaintiff’s appeal and upheld the first instance court decision.
  • Legal issue
    The court found that the witness testimony heard during the court trial are credible including the fact that defendants experienced anxiety and distress due to their holiday having been ruined, that they were in a foreign country without a clear position of the organizer how they would travel back to Bulgaria, and that they needed to find a solution themselves and organize their return home. Therefore, the general damages to plaintiffs are a direct consequence of the breach of the contract concluded between the plaintiff and the defendants. The court found that those damages are foreseeable for the plaintiff as they are a logical consequence of the breach of contract.Thus the organizer is liable under Article 93, Alinea 1 and Article 95, Alinea 1 of the Consumers Protection Act (which implement Article 4, paragraph 7 and Article 5, paragraph 1 of Directive 1990/314/EEC into Bulgarian law).
  • Decision

    Are consumers entitled to monetary compensation for general damages (non-monetary losses) inflicted by the organizer’s non-performance of a package travel contract?

    URL: https://legalacts.justice.bg/Search/GetActContentByActId?actId=ipRTGXmyxfo%3D

    Full text: Full text

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  • Result
    The court upheld the first instance court’s judgment that rejected the plaintiff’s appeal.