The case concerns the committing of a labor health and security crime and of a crime of manslaughter. The Bucharest Court of Appeal maintained both the acquittal solution obtained in the court of first instance and the solution of rejection of the material and moral damage claims.

On April 8, 2021, the attorneys at law specialized in criminal law of Zamfirescu Racoți Vasile & Partners (ZRVP) obtained a final solution of acquittal of the largest public transportation company from Romania, in a case file concerning the committing of a labor health and security crime and of a crime of manslaughter.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected the prosecutor’s and the civil parties’ appeals, maintaining both the acquittal solution obtained in the court of first instance by ZRVP’s criminal law team last year, and the solution of rejection of the claims for material and moral damages, filed by the civil parties, these amounting to over Lei 2,000,000.

“The satisfaction is greater as the solution ruled by the court of appeal comes after the ruling of an acquittal solution by the court of first instance, the defense’s theses being assumed also by the court of appeal. Besides our pleas, the questions we addressed when the employees of the Territorial Labor Inspectorate were heard contributed decisively, as these confirmed in front of the courts of law that the legal person had implemented internal procedures and provided periodical training in the labor health and security area, and the equipment was optimally functioning, thus refuting the prosecutors’ accusations and the civil parties’ allegations”, declared George Avram, senior associate of ZRVP’s criminal law team.”

Doru Cosmin Ursu, managing associate of ZRVP’s criminal law team, added:

“In the last years, the practice of the prosecution bodies to arraign legal persons for the obvious purpose to ensure the recovery of the material and moral damages claimed by the civil parties in case of work accidents that led to the employee’s remise has been intensifying. This practice at the level of the prosecutor’s offices underlines, besides the importance of existence of internal prevention mechanisms at the legal person’s level, the necessity of constant verification of the actual character of these measures. The contribution of the attorneys at law specialized in the criminal law area is essential for establishing and implementing the labor health and security strategy at the company’s level, to avoid the entailing of criminal liability of the legal person or of its management bodies in case of work accidents.”

The area of criminal law continues to be one of the stars of business law, the team currently handling more than 140 criminal case files representing both large corporates and individuals of Romanian or foreign citizenship. The client portfolio includes public institutions, the cases being pursued by the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice (PICCJ), the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) or the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT).