Car and road accident compensation.in Portugal

Call 112 and ask for medical assistance, even if you feel fine. Some injuries only show up hours later, like the neck pain that comes on at night, once you are already home. At the hospital, ask at the admissions desk for your visit to be recorded as a road traffic accident. That record may look like a bureaucratic detail, but it is the first piece of evidence in your case, because everything documented in the first few hours counts later on. For that reason, speak to a lawyer as soon as possible. Marks on the road surface wash away with the rain and witnesses' memories fade from one day to the next.

Whenever there are injuries, yes. The police draw up an official incident report, a key document for proving how the accident happened. Without that report, the discussion with the insurer risks coming down to one driver's word against the other's.

As little as possible. Say that there has been an accident and that you are in pain. Do not accept blame without advice, however responsible you may feel at the time, because that admission can harm your rights. Do not sign any statement you have not read carefully.

Go, even if the pain seems mild. Whiplash injuries, sprains or internal injuries may show no signs in the first few hours. Without a hospital record linking the complaints to the accident, insurers commonly deny liability.

Keep everything that documents the accident and your expenses: medical reports, prescriptions, pharmacy receipts, proof of travel costs, photographs of the scene and witnesses' contact details. Every documented expense can go into the calculation of the compensation. Keeping each receipt costs little now and carries a lot of weight when the time comes to submit the claim.

There is protection even in these cases. Report the incident to the police straight away, keep whatever evidence is available and note down everything you managed to see of the fleeing vehicle, such as the colour, the make or part of the number plate. When the person responsible is not identified, the body that steps in is the state motor guarantee fund (Fundo de Garantia Automóvel), to which the compensation claim is then directed. The Fund is a public fund, managed under the supervision of the Portuguese insurance and pension funds supervisory authority (Autoridade de Supervisão de Seguros e Fundos de Pensões), which responds when the vehicle is not identified or has no valid and effective insurance (article 49 of Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). In that situation, bodily injury is, as a rule, covered, whereas property damage, where the person responsible is unknown, is covered only under more limited conditions. The claim is made directly to the Fund and, if the person responsible is later identified, the Fund tends to seek reimbursement from them for what it has paid out. The procedure for claiming from the Fund is set out in No insurance and the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel.

It is not mandatory, but it helps a great deal. In pedestrian collisions, in crashes at junctions or in collisions between vehicles, the account of someone who saw it from the outside carries weight in the decision. Contact details gathered right there at the scene are decisive. Weeks later, tracking down someone who witnessed the accident becomes much harder. Check as well whether there were CCTV cameras nearby, in shops, buildings, car parks or cash machines, that may have captured the accident. Here time matters. On common private systems, the footage is rarely kept for more than 30 days and many smaller devices record over it after just a few days, although cameras on roads and motorways tend to keep the recordings for considerably longer. For data protection reasons, whoever holds the recordings will not hand them directly to a private individual, so the correct route is to ask quickly, through the police or a lawyer, for them to be preserved and obtained before they disappear.

No. The joint accident statement (Declaração Amigável), known to British drivers as the European Accident Statement, records jointly how the accident happened and serves as evidence for the insurers to establish liability; it is not an admission of fault. No driver needs to declare themselves at fault in order to complete it. Even so, fill it in carefully and without admitting anything that did not actually happen, because its content bears on how fault is determined.

It does not matter. Fill in and sign your part of the joint accident statement with your version of the facts and report the claim to your insurer, even without the other driver's signature. At the scene, gather evidence: the number plate and insurer of the other vehicle, photographs of the damage and of the position of the vehicles and witnesses' contact details. If there are injuries or disagreement about fault, call the GNR or the PSP so that the police incident report (auto de ocorrência) is drawn up, as explained in the question about calling the police to the scene.

The front is shared and signed by both drivers: identification of the vehicles and insurance, circumstances marked with crosses (the left-hand column relates to driver A and the right-hand one to driver B) and the sketch showing the position of the cars. The back is filled in separately, with each driver's free account, without needing the other's signature. Tick only the boxes that match reality. If there is disagreement about the front, do not sign it and record the discrepancy.

As a rule you have 8 days from the moment you become aware of the incident, unless the policy sets a different period (art.º 100.º do Regime Jurídico do Contrato de Seguro). Report it as soon as possible, submitting the joint accident statement properly filled in. Reporting late does not, in itself, cause you to lose cover, but it can reduce what the insurer pays if the delay causes it loss. And if you are the injured party, the other driver's delay in reporting does not, as a rule, harm you, because the insurer cannot hold that failure against you.

A road traffic accident victim is, as a rule, entitled to medical treatment, physiotherapy, medication and transport to appointments, as well as compensation for temporary or permanent incapacity and for non-pecuniary damages, such as the pain and suffering endured. In the event of death, family members are, as a rule, entitled to compensation, which may include pensions, as explained in the answer on the accident that results in death.

The driver who was not at fault is, as a rule, entitled to compensation for the physical, psychological and financial harm the accident caused them. This includes the loss of income during recovery and the expenses the accident forced them to bear, from treatment to travel.

As a rule, yes. A passenger keeps the right to compensation even when the person at fault is the driver of the car they were travelling in, because the party liable to pay is the vehicle's insurer. Many passengers hesitate to claim out of friendship or family ties with the driver, an understandable hesitation but a groundless one, because the compensation comes from the insurance, not from the pocket of the person who was driving.

Partial fault does not, in itself, remove the right to compensation. As a rule, the amount is reduced in proportion to each party's share of responsibility. If the percentage of fault the insurer attributes to you seems overstated, that apportionment can be challenged. Challenging it means cross-checking the police report against the dynamics of the accident, a task in which a lawyer tends to be helpful.

Psychological harm is compensable, just like physical harm. Anxiety, phobias, depression or a persistent fear of driving or of crossing the street count towards the compensation. But insurers tend to play them down. That is why being under the care of a psychologist or psychiatrist makes a difference. A complaint that appears in the clinical records has evidential value. A complaint that is merely reported hardly does.

Someone who becomes unable to work is, as a rule, entitled to compensation for the loss of income. In the most serious cases, a lifelong pension may be due. The calculation must take into account all income (not just the base salary) and also the foreseeable progression of the career that the accident cut short, as explained in the answers on permanent total incapacity and on calculating compensation for incapacity.

It should. The law imposes deadlines on the insurer to take a position and to pay, but in practice delays are common, as are requests for documents that add nothing. When the legal deadlines are not met, the case can go to court.

For each accident, compulsory motor (third-party liability) insurance guarantees at least 6,450,000 euros for personal injury and 1,300,000 euros for property damage (artigo 12.º do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). These are the minimum sums insured that the law imposes and they are revised from time to time, so policies may always provide for higher sums. In practice, it is rare for compensation for bodily injury to come close to this ceiling, but the figure gives a sense of the protection that compulsory motor insurance secures for the victim.

Almost never. In practice, the first offer, in our experience, tends to serve to close the case quickly and for a low amount, even though the insurer never says so in writing. It usually leaves out future pain, loss of income and psychological support. Notice the date, which arrives just a few weeks after the accident, when you are still midway through treatment and no one knows what after-effects you will be left with. The amount looks reasonable to anyone who has never been through this. Compared with what the courts have been awarding in similar cases, it stops looking that way. There are initial offers that do not even cover the physiotherapy and travel already paid for. The test is simple. Put the offer side by side with what the doctors treating you have written. The gap between what is offered and what is owed tends to be considerable.

You do not have to accept it. The doctors appointed by the insurer tend to understate the severity of the injuries, and that assessment can be challenged by a further medical examination and, in court, by medical experts from the National Institute of Legal Medicine (INMLCF). For many people, an independent doctor reaches quite different conclusions about the real severity. How this examination works and how to request a fresh one are explained in the answer on the medico-legal examination at the INMLCF.

It can allege that. And it often does. Saying that the victim crossed away from the crossing or was not wearing a seatbelt is one of the most common arguments for reducing or ruling out compensation. But alleging is not enough. Such allegations have to be proved by whoever makes them. First, what was recorded in the police report is examined. Then the witnesses are heard. Only then is everything set against an analysis of the dynamics of the accident: speeds, points of impact, position of the vehicles. A version with no support in the evidence hardly withstands that scrutiny. The next step is concrete. Obtain a copy of the police report, gather the witnesses' contact details and do not sign any statement about fault until that evidence has been analysed.

It should not, but it happens. Without valid clinical grounds, the suspension can be challenged. Ask for the justification in writing and hand it to a lawyer, who can demand that the insurer reinstate the payments.

Do not sign anything on the spot. Haste usually benefits the insurer, because closing the case quickly works out cheaper for it. There are settlements with full and final discharge clauses that tend to extinguish future claims, even if the injuries later worsen, save for genuinely unforeseeable harm, an exception that rarely arises. Take the document away, read it calmly and only return it after legal advice.

Yes. Receiving an advance does not mean you have lost your rights. Those amounts are paid on account of the final compensation and the case remains open to claim what is still owed. If the insurer advances nothing and the injuries leave you in difficulty, you can ask the court to award an interim payment, as a rule in the form of a monthly sum (artigos 388.º a 390.º do Código de Processo Civil).

It can, in certain situations. In those cases the insurer still compensates the injured party, but keeps the right to demand reimbursement afterwards from the person responsible, known as the right of recourse (artigo 27.º do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). This happens, as a rule, when the driver caused the accident under the influence of alcohol or drugs, when they were not legally licensed, when they abandoned the injured person or when they caused the accident deliberately. There is also a case linked to the contract itself. If the insurance was taken out with false information, for example naming as the usual driver someone who does not actually drive the car in order to pay a lower premium, the insurer can act against the policyholder. In any of these cases the victim is, as a rule, compensated. The one who pays in the end is the driver or the policyholder.

As a rule you do not lose those benefits, but nor do you receive twice for the same harm. Whoever has already paid you, such as Social Security or the workplace-accident insurer, is subrogated and, as a rule, claims those amounts from the liable party's insurer and not from you (art.º 70.º da Lei 4/2007). If you end up being paid for the same harm through both routes, you may have to return the overlapping part, which is why the two claims should be coordinated from the outset. What has already been covered ceases to be paid to you in the civil compensation, while the parts not covered, such as non-pecuniary damage, remain yours.

Start by reporting the claim and gathering evidence of the other driver's fault, such as the joint accident statement signed by both, photographs and witnesses' contact details. As a rule, it is for the person claiming to prove what happened (art.º 342.º, n.º 1 do Código Civil). With that evidence, claim against the liable driver's civil liability insurance. If the insurer refuses or does not respond, you have several avenues of recourse: the insurer's internal complaints procedure, the ASF (the insurance and pension-fund regulator) or, as a last resort, the courts.

It depends on which insurance you claim on. If you claim on the liable driver's civil liability insurance, there is no excess for you to bear, because the excess is, as a rule, a feature of optional cover, such as own-damage or windscreen cover. If you claim on your own comprehensive cover, the excess is deducted from the payout and is, as a rule, borne by you, though you can then reclaim it from the liable party, since the injured party is entitled to full reparation of the harm (art.º 562.º do Código Civil).

There is a total loss in three situations: when the car has disappeared or been destroyed, when repair is impossible or unsafe, or when repairing it is no longer worthwhile. Repairing stops being worthwhile when the cost of repair, added to the value of the salvage (what remains of the car), exceeds 100% of the car's value before the accident, or 120% if the car is more than two years old (art.º 41.º do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). In that case the insurer pays the value of an equivalent car before the accident, deducting the salvage if you keep it. That figure is a market estimate, so you can challenge an assessment that seems low.

You can challenge it, yes. The market value is what it would cost to buy a vehicle equivalent to yours, just as it was before the accident, in make, model, year, mileage and condition. This is known as the replacement value, referred to in art.º 41.º, n.º 2 do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007. The insurer has to justify it. If it seems low to you, ask for a reassessment and add evidence of the market value, such as advertisements for equivalent cars or an expert valuation. As a rule, it is also possible to turn to the CIMPAS (the insurance mediation and arbitration centre) or the insurer's internal complaints procedure, as explained in the question on resolving the dispute with the insurer without going to court.

As a rule, yes. You can keep the salvage (what remains of the car) and receive the difference between the car's value before the accident and the value of that salvage (art.º 41.º, n.º 3 do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). If you hand it over, you receive the full value. The insurer must also tell you the assessed value of the car, the repair estimate and the value of the salvage, identifying whoever undertakes to buy it (n.º 4).

It depends on whether the credit has a registered retention of title, which is the clause that keeps the car in the finance company's name until the loan is paid off (art.º 409.º do Código Civil). If there is one, the total-loss compensation first goes to settle the debt and whatever is left over is yours. If there is no registered retention of title, the insurer pays you directly. Since the total-loss value corresponds to the car's value before the accident and does not always cover the debt, check the outstanding balance before closing the case.

Where there is a liable party, you are as a rule entitled to a replacement vehicle of similar characteristics for as long as your car is off the road because of the repair. Under your own comprehensive cover it depends on what the policy provides. Without a replacement vehicle, you can claim compensation for the days without a car, known as loss of use, which we explain in the answer on compensation for loss of use.

As a rule, yes. Being unable to use your car tends to be recognised, in itself, as compensable harm, especially when you show that you used or would use the vehicle day to day. This is known as loss of use, recognised by the case law of the Supreme Court of Justice ↗. When the exact loss cannot be calculated, the court sets a fair amount for the case, as a rule a sum for each day without a car (art.º 566.º, n.º 3 do Código Civil). The amount depends on the use you made of the car and the time it was off the road.

As a rule, the garage is chosen by the injured party. Under the compulsory motor insurance regime (Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007), the insurer has, as a rule, 30 working days from the end of the initial-contact period to take a position. If it accepts liability and the harm is quantifiable, it puts forward a reasonable offer of compensation. If it does not accept liability, it sends a reasoned reply within the same period. The replacement vehicle remains available even when the repair is carried out at the garage chosen by the injured party.

In that case the party that pays is the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel (FGA), managed by the ASF, created precisely for accidents involving uninsured vehicles (art.ºs 47.º e seguintes do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). The FGA guarantees, as a rule, bodily injury (art.º 49.º, with the exclusions in art.º 52.º). If the liable party is identified, it also pays for property damage, up to the minimum compulsory cover limit. When the liable party is never identified, bodily injury remains covered, but property damage only under more limited conditions. What happens afterwards to someone driving without insurance is explained in the answer on the person who crashed while uninsured.

The Fundo de Garantia Automóvel (FGA) is managed by the ASF and steps in mainly in two situations: when the liable party fled without being identified and when the vehicle had no valid insurance. It also intervenes in other cases provided for by law, such as when the vehicle's insurer is in insolvency or winding-up proceedings. The claim is submitted to the Fund itself, at the ASF, supported by the accident report and documentation of the damage. The sooner you gather that evidence, the simpler the claim tends to be to put together. If witnesses are lacking, a technical reconstruction of the accident can help with the proof. Mind the limitation periods, as a rule three years (art.º 498.º do Código Civil), explained in the answer on how long you have to claim compensation. What the Fund covers in each case is explained in the answer on who pays for the damage in an accident with an uninsured car.

If you caused the accident and had no insurance, the party that compensates the victim is the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel, which covers bodily injury and also, within certain limits, property damage. After paying, the Fund recovers that amount with interest and costs, with the keeper, the owner and the driver being jointly and severally liable, even if the insurance obligation was not theirs (art.º 54.º do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). In practice, the Fund can demand the whole amount from any of them, including from someone who merely lent the car. On top of this comes, as a rule, the fine for lack of compulsory insurance.

The green card is the international certificate proving that the foreign vehicle has valid civil liability insurance. Fill in the joint accident statement with the other driver, recording number plates and insurers. Where there is valid insurance, the claim proceeds in Portugal through that insurer's representative. If you cannot identify the insurer, the Portuguese Green Card Bureau (Gabinete Português de Carta Verde) traces it in the country of registration.

It is the period during which, because of the injuries, you are completely unable to work, as a rule during the recovery phase and until medical discharge. "Total" means exactly that, a complete inability to work and not merely a reduction in capacity. For as long as it lasts, you are entitled to be compensated for the loss of income. Certified sick leave is what proves that inability.

The name is technical, but the situation is common. You can still work, though with limitations. During that period you are entitled to be compensated in proportion to the capacity you have lost. In our experience, the amount offered for this item tends to fall short of what the medical records justify, so it is worth checking those records. If there is a discrepancy, a lawyer steps in.

Here it is no longer about a period of recovery, but about permanent after-effects that reduce working capacity, even though the victim can still carry on working. The percentage assigned largely determines the amount of the compensation, and insurers frequently set it low. Since that percentage weighs heavily on the final amount, it is worth having a lawyer's support while the case is under way.

The most serious form of incapacity. The victim is prevented from carrying out their profession or any other work. In these cases a lifelong pension may be due, and the calculation of the compensation must cover the whole of the income the victim will no longer earn.

There is Portaria 377/2008, de 26 de maio (updated by Portaria 679/2009), which sets guideline figures for insurers' offers to injured parties. It serves the negotiation but does not bind the courts, which set compensation case by case and resort to an equitable assessment where there is no exact figure (art.º 566.º, n.º 3 do Código Civil). As these figures tend to fall below what the courts award, an offer based on that table deserves careful analysis before being accepted. To get a first idea of what your case may be worth, use our compensation simulator on acidentes.PT ↗.

The examination is carried out by the National Institute of Legal Medicine (INMLCF) and sets the parameters of the harm: the incapacity that remains for life (the permanent functional deficit), the suffering (quantum doloris) and the aesthetic damage. If you disagree with the report, you can ask the expert for clarifications or request a second examination, giving reasoned grounds for the disagreement (art.º 487.º do Código de Processo Civil). That second examination is carried out by a different expert from the first. In the end, it is the court that weighs everything and sets the compensation.

In road accidents, age is one of the factors the expert weighs when scoring the after-effects under the civil-law impairment table (Tabela de Direito Civil, Anexo II do Decreto-Lei n.º 352/2007), but without any fixed multiplier. It matters above all through the way the same injuries affect life and income over time, which varies from person to person. The final amount depends on that scoring, on the impact of the after-effects and on the evidence gathered.

No. That uplift (a factor of 1.5) is specific to workplace accidents (Anexo I). In road accidents the civil table applies (Anexo II), where age is just one of the weighting criteria.

Sometimes the after-effects are assessed under the workplace-accident table (Anexo I), when a road accident calls for the Tabela de Direito Civil (Anexo II do Decreto-Lei n.º 352/2007). They are different tables and the legislation itself distinguishes them. If this happened in your case, a lawyer can challenge the assessment and insist on the correct table. When the scoring came out unfavourable because of the wrong table, correcting it usually improves the compensation.

Compensation is not limited to physical harm. It also covers psychological harm, loss of income, medical expenses, transport and disruption to family life. None of these items should be left out of the claim.

Non-pecuniary damages are the amounts paid for physical and psychological suffering: pain, sleeplessness, loss of quality of life. The chronic pain that remains after the injuries is compensable harm like any other. As they are hard to quantify, psychological and clinical reports help to support the amount claimed.

The quantum doloris (compensation for the suffering endured) is the part of the non-pecuniary damages that corresponds to the suffering experienced from the accident until cure or stabilisation of the injuries. It is assessed in a medico-legal examination on a seven-grade scale, from very slight to very serious, weighing the severity of the injuries, the hospital stay, the operations and the recovery time. The court sets the amount according to what is fair in the specific case (art.º 496.º do Código Civil) and is not bound by set figures, such as those in the table in Portaria n.º 377/2008, which are purely indicative.

Aesthetic damage is the visible mark that the after-effects leave on one's appearance, such as scars or deformities. The medico-legal examination also grades it from one to seven. Insurers' offers start from reference figures that the courts tend to exceed on the basis of what is fair (art.º 566.º, n.º 3 do Código Civil), weighing the grade, the location, the visibility of the injury and the person's age. Only an individual assessment of the after-effects, supported by a medico-legal report, allows a realistic estimate.

Biological damage is the harm to physical and mental integrity in itself, the functional limitation that now demands extra effort in daily life and at work, whether or not there is a loss of income. According to the case law of the Supreme Court of Justice ↗, it is compensable even if the injured party carries on working and receiving the same salary, provided the permanent functional deficit is proved.

There is no fixed figure. Compensation for a cervical spine injury, commonly known as whiplash, depends above all on the permanent functional deficit, the quantum doloris and the after-effects established in a medico-legal examination. When the exact value of the harm cannot be established, the court sets the amount on the basis of what is fair, under art.º 566.º, n.º 3, do Código Civil, weighing the severity of the injuries, the person's age and the impact on the injured party's life.

Yes. Post-traumatic stress gives a right to compensation, provided it is proved that the accident caused it (art.º 496.º do Código Civil). It is compensated as non-pecuniary damage. If the disturbance limits daily life or work, it may also increase the percentage of incapacity set in the examination. When the complaints tend to persist after discharge, they may also form part of what is called future harm, which the law requires to be compensated provided it is foreseeable. It is the medico-legal examination that confirms the disturbance and its link to the accident. So seek psychological or psychiatric support early and keep the reports, which are the evidence that supports the claim.

Having a prior injury or illness does not cause you to lose the right to compensation. What is compensated is the worsening caused by the accident and not the condition that already existed, a link established by medico-legal examination. The insurer can invoke the prior condition to reduce the amount, but it is for the insurer to prove it, as it is a fact that limits the injured party's right (art.º 342.º, n.º 2 do Código Civil).

As a rule you are compensated; you do not lose out. What you stopped earning while on certified sick leave (baixa médica) is harm that the liable party's insurer has to pay, provided you prove it (art.º 564.º do Código Civil). Until that liability is accepted, Social Security may pay you sickness benefit and then recover that amount from the insurer, so that you are not paid twice for the same period. Keep your payslips and a statement from your employer, which are the evidence of what you lost.

You can. If the injuries prevent you from continuing in your profession, you are entitled to greater compensation, because the forced change of profession is harm in itself. A report from an occupational-health doctor explaining why you cannot return to your original activity strengthens that claim.

As a rule, these costs are borne by the liable party's insurer, as future pecuniary damage. When the dependence is permanent, prostheses, a wheelchair, adaptations to the home and the vehicle and the help of a third person tend to be compensated, including on a lifelong basis, because art.º 564.º/2 do Código Civil requires foreseeable future harm to be taken into account. The amount does not come from a fixed table; it is worked out on the basis of what is fair, according to the cost of the support and the victim's life expectancy. The court may also set the compensation, in whole or in part, in the form of an annuity (art.º 567.º do Código Civil). The need for permanent assistance from a third person has to be demonstrated in the medical reports, which tend to be the decisive part of this claim.

Future harm is loss that has not yet occurred but is already foreseeable, such as operations that will be needed or the loss of earning capacity over one's working life. The court can take it into account provided it is foreseeable (art.º 564.º/2 do Código Civil), on the basis of a forecast from the known facts. If the harm is foreseeable but not yet quantifiable, its value can be left to a later decision.

It depends above all on what you signed. If you received an advance or made only a partial agreement, as a rule it is still possible to claim the remainder. If you signed a full and final discharge, the case tends to be closed and claiming later is very exceptional, because the discharge tends to extinguish future claims. In that scenario, only a genuinely unforeseeable worsening as at the date can ground a new claim, as explained in the questions on the worsening of the after-effects. Before treating the case as closed, show the document you signed to a lawyer, because it is the precise wording of the discharge that determines what room remains.

As a rule, the liable party's insurer has to bear the health costs linked to the accident: appointments, tests, surgery and medication, against prescriptions and invoices. When it delays or refuses the more expensive procedures, the lawyer demands immediate cover. If necessary, the matter goes to court.

You have that right. No one obliges you to be seen by the insurer's doctors, whose assessment is made on behalf of the party that will pay. Keep everything the doctor you choose writes down. Independent opinions count towards a more balanced assessment.

It can try, often on the argument that the treatments "are not necessary", but that refusal tends to have no basis when the treatment is clinically indicated. Physiotherapy and psychotherapy are part of the recovery of many victims of collisions and pedestrian accidents. Where there is a medical prescription, the refusal tends not to withstand comparison with the reports. Demand cover in writing, so that you keep proof of the request.

The cost does not change the principle. As a rule, the insurer must also bear the more expensive procedures. But it is precisely with costly surgery that delays most often arise. What stops them is a medical report showing the clinical risk of waiting.

It is included, just like physical rehabilitation. Persistent irritability or avoidance behaviours (such as not being able to get back into a car) are recognised after-effects and their treatment is the insurer's responsibility. The sooner the psychological assessment is done, the clearer the link between the trauma and the accident becomes.

As a rule, those journeys are at the insurer's expense, including adapted transport when the injury requires it. The proof of each journey should be kept. In refusals, what counts is the clinical justification of the need.

It is a common practice, but you do not have to accept it. Ask for a fresh assessment by an independent doctor before putting your signature on any paper. A discharge accepted without reservation makes it harder to argue about the after-effects that persist.

You can ask. What makes a difference, in practice, is how you organise it. Look for a doctor in the same field as the injury you suffered, for example an orthopaedist for a fracture or a neurologist for a head injury, because an opinion in the right specialty usually carries more weight than a general assessment. You can turn to the doctor already treating you, who knows your case well, or to a specialist of your own choosing. Take along the tests and reports you have already gathered, so that the assessment starts from the full history. Keep in writing, with dates, everything they conclude, because those are the documents that later support what you go on to claim. If in doubt about the right specialty, it is worth getting legal advice first, so as not to waste time on appointments that add little.

You can, yes. Medical discharge does not close the door to a claim. On the contrary, it is as a rule after discharge, with the after-effects now settled, that the amount to claim from the insurer is worked out. If you have lasting after-effects, pain or a need for further treatment, that should be documented and included in the claim. Even at this stage, a lawyer can fill gaps in the documentation, request an independent medical examination and challenge the insurer's assessment when the reports point the other way. To support the claim, you will need up-to-date reports from the doctors treating you.

In a road accident there is no incapacity-review procedure, unlike in workplace accidents. The compensation is set once and for all, after the injuries have stabilised, so as to take in the foreseeable after-effects from the start, including any worsening or surgery that is known at the time to be coming (art.º 564.º/2 do Código Civil). If, later on, a worsening arises that was not foreseeable when the case was decided or compensated, such as new pain, loss of mobility, an unanticipated surgery or psychological repercussions that only show up afterwards, that worsening can, as a rule, amount to new harm, with a claim of its own, even though compensation has already been paid. It is not a matter of reopening the case or reviewing a percentage, but of a fresh claim, subject to three limits. The first is what has already been decided in court or by agreement, which only fails to cover genuinely unforeseeable harm. The second is the wording of the discharge given to the insurer, which tends to cover the harm foreseeable at the date. The third is the limitation period, as a rule three years (art.º 498.º). Even so, claiming more after the case is closed is very exceptional, because most worsenings were either already foreseeable at the date or are covered by the discharge you signed. What supports any claim is the link between the present worsening and the accident, shown with consistent clinical documentation. A lawyer can assess whether, in the specific case, there is room to claim more.

In road accidents there are no periodic reviews of incapacity, unlike in workplace accidents, where a review can be requested only once each calendar year, so the question of how often to claim does not arise. What exists is a maximum period. The right to compensation for civil liability is time-barred, as a rule, after three years (art.º 498.º do Código Civil), so claiming years later is not unlimited. Where a worsening is genuinely new and unforeseeable, it is held in many cases that the period only starts to run from the moment the victim becomes aware of that new harm, applying the general rule of counting from knowledge explained in the questions in the section on legal matters and deadlines, but this is a delicate and fact-specific question. So the sooner the signs of worsening are recorded, the simpler it is to link them to the accident and safeguard the deadline. As the counting varies from case to case, it is best to clarify it early with a lawyer, while the deadline still leaves room.

In road accidents, the assessment of bodily harm is not done by a medical board (junta médica) that assesses disability, a body specific to workplace accidents. The insurer usually makes a first assessment through its own doctors, but that assessment is not final. When the case reaches court, the assessment is made by medico-legal examination, as a rule by the National Institute of Legal Medicine (INMLCF) or by an expert appointed by the court, as explained in the question on the medico-legal examination at the INMLCF and the request for a fresh examination. The one who decides is the judge, who freely appraises that evidence. A report from an independent doctor can strengthen the victim's position at this stage.

It can refuse at first, usually on the argument that there was no change or that the discharge signed already covers everything. That refusal does not necessarily settle the matter. If there was a settlement with a full and final discharge given to the insurer, its scope depends on the specific terms, since a discharge tends to extinguish future claims, save as to unforeseeable harm not covered by the agreement, an exception that rarely arises. At this stage, the support of a lawyer helps to challenge the refusal with clinical evidence, to analyse the wording of the discharge and to take the matter to court where warranted.

If the worsening is recognised as compensable harm, the compensation tends to follow it, because greater incapacity means, as a rule, a greater loss of earning capacity and higher future harm. When the worsening was already foreseeable at the date of the decision, the aim is to set it there and then or to leave its calculation to a later date. When it is unforeseeable, the new-harm regime applies, and the worsening can then usually be claimed as a separate loss. The specific amount always depends on the evidence and on the assessment of the case.

Three years, as a rule, counting from the date on which you became aware of your right (artigo 498.º do Código Civil). If the act constitutes a crime with a longer limitation period, that longer period applies. Even so, it is best not to wait for the deadline to run out, because evidence weakens over time and witnesses forget details.

Not always. As a rule, they run from the date on which you found out what happened and who was responsible, not necessarily from the day of the accident. In most cases the two dates coincide, because you learn everything right there at the scene. But there are exceptions. Imagine someone who was in a coma and only learned of the accident three months later. For that person, the period starts to run from that knowledge and not from the date on which the accident occurred. The rule applies both to the 6 months for a criminal complaint (artigo 115.º do Código Penal) and to the limitation period for civil compensation (artigo 498.º do Código Civil).

It happens more than you might think, since spinal or psychological injuries often appear months after the accident. As a rule, the compensation is set after the injuries have stabilised, that is after discharge, precisely to capture the after-effects known at that point. After-effects that only appear or worsen later tend to be dealt with separately, depending on when they arise and on what was decided or agreed, as explained in the questions on the worsening of the after-effects. What supports any claim is the clinical link between the after-effects and the accident, shown by the medical records from that phase.

It is a frequent argument from insurers, but it does not always hold. When the after-effects only show up later, the period may run from the moment they become known, a difference that can amount to months or years and completely change the answer.

It can drag on, but a good part of cases are resolved by agreement before reaching trial. When there is no agreement, well-founded medical and technical reports help to shorten the discussion.

As a rule, no. The courts are overloaded and a party cannot dictate their pace. In civil proceedings, through which the compensation action runs, there is no such thing as a "request to expedite", which only criminal proceedings provide for (art.º 108.º do Código de Processo Penal). An application made simply to ask for speed tends not to help and can prove costly, because, since that mechanism is not provided for in civil procedural law, it risks being treated as manifestly unfounded and giving rise to an exceptional penalty charge, a financial penalty for those who use groundless procedural means (art.º 531.º do Código de Processo Civil). What is within your reach is to keep the action well documented (medical reports, proof of the accident) and to respond quickly to whatever the court asks, so as not to add further delay.

As a rule, the court's own pace does not depend on the lawyer, as already explained. What does depend on the lawyer is not adding avoidable delays. In practice, this means submitting pleadings and documents within the deadlines, responding without delay to notifications and preparing the medical assessments with the complete clinical material, so that they do not have to be repeated for want of a report. These are quiet routines, but, in our experience, it is in them that the weeks are won that other cases lose.

Yes. The right to a decision within a reasonable time is in the Constitution (art.º 20.º, n.º 4) and in the European Convention on Human Rights. When the delay is abnormal and attributable to the working of the justice system, you can claim compensation from the State itself (Lei n.º 67/2007). It does not speed up your case, but it makes good the harm of having waited too long. The claim is time-barred after three years.

The insurer's silence does not close the case. There are cases that go months without a reply. And experience shows that silence proves costly for those who wait without reacting. Faced with inaction, the lawyer sends a formal notice. If even then there is no reply, the case can go to court, where the insurer is compelled to take a position. A failure to reply or to cooperate within the legal deadlines can also be reported to the ASF, the insurance regulator, which oversees insurers' conduct and can penalise such non-compliance.

It depends on how you do it. A formal, signed withdrawal can mean the definitive loss of your rights. Simply stopping negotiating does not have that effect, although the limitation periods keep running.

Yes, the compensation carries default interest at the statutory rate (art.º 805.º do Código Civil). What varies is the date on which it starts to run. If the court set the amount already updated to the date of the judgment, interest runs from that judgment (STJ ruling on interest and the updating of compensation ↗). If the amount was not updated, it runs, as a rule, from service of the claim, that is from when the liable party was brought into the proceedings.

As a rule it is not subject to IRS. Compensation for bodily injury, illness or death falls outside the tax when paid by an insurer, set by a court or by a court-approved settlement (art.º 12.º, n.º 1 do Código do IRS), including non-pecuniary damage. As for attachment, the rule is less protective than people think. The courts have held that compensation received as a lump sum can be attached, unless it is shown that the money secures the subsistence of the person receiving it. It is that subsistence function that brings the protection of art.º 738.º do Código de Processo Civil, not the mere fact that the amount comes from an accident. The same logic applies to money deposited in the bank, which keeps the protection the claim had (art.º 739.º do mesmo Código). A periodic annuity or pension paid by the insurer benefits, as a rule, from the two-thirds protection, like pensions in general. And if the same accident is also a workplace accident, the benefits received through that route are, as a rule, exempt from attachment, by force of the special regime explained on the workplace accidents page (art.º 78.º da Lei n.º 98/2009).

As a rule, yes. Art.º 566.º/2 do Código Civil requires the compensation to be measured by the difference in assets referred to the most recent date the court can consider, and not to that of the accident, which already allows the erosion in the value of money that has occurred in the meantime to be taken into account. The courts tend to update the amount for inflation between the event and the decision, in coordination with default interest so that there is no double counting.

As a rule, yes. A pedestrian on the crossing has priority and the law gives them enhanced protection. Even so, each case is examined on its facts, since there may be factors that affect how responsibility is apportioned, such as the visibility of the location or the way the crossing was begun.

Away from the crossing, the pedestrian does not automatically lose the protection of the law. As a rule, where there is a marked crossing within 50 m, they should use it. Away from it, they should cross perpendicular to the axis of the road and as quickly as possible, after making sure they can do so safely (art.º 101.º do Código da Estrada). The insurer may try to pin the blame on them, but crossing away from the crossing does not, in itself, cause the loss of the right to compensation, because the driver's duty remains to moderate speed and to allow for the presence of pedestrians, on top of the strict liability that attaches to the use of the vehicle itself. Depending on the specific dynamics, responsibility may be shared between the two and reduce the amount without eliminating it, and, in clearer cases, may fall mainly on the pedestrian. In cases where the pedestrian's fault is proved, whether sole or partial, they are also liable, in proportion to that fault, for the damage they caused to the vehicle that hit them. It is that dynamic that a lawyer seeks to prove. In practice, these cases are often decided on details gathered early, such as the cameras of a nearby café or petrol station, which tend to erase their footage after just a few days, rarely more than 30, the location of the damage on the vehicle (which marks the exact point of impact) or the distance the body was thrown, which lets experts estimate the real speed. There are drivers' accounts that collapsed entirely in the face of a single CCTV recording. The sooner these elements are preserved, the stronger the pedestrian's position becomes. How to ask for that footage to be preserved, through the police or a lawyer, is explained in the answer about witnesses.

The law treats children as especially vulnerable victims and reinforces their protection. A child is not judged by an adult's standards of care, and the emotional impact of being hit must be taken into account in the calculation of the compensation, duly documented by a psychological assessment.

Older people are likewise treated as vulnerable victims. In this age group, the same injuries frequently lead to more serious complications and slower recoveries, which should be reflected in the amount of the compensation.

As a rule, yes. In a collision with a car, the cyclist can be compensated because, as a vulnerable road user, they too benefit from the strict liability that attaches to the use of the motor vehicle. Unlike a pedestrian, a cyclist rides a pedal cycle, which is legally a vehicle, so they are subject to the traffic rules that apply to drivers. If they broke those rules, for example riding without lights at night, the wrong way or without giving way, their share of responsibility can increase and the compensation be reduced or even ruled out, if the accident is attributable to them alone. The apportionment depends on the specific dynamics of each accident.

They can. It happens, for example, when the pedestrian crosses on a red light, suddenly darts out into the road, emerges from between parked cars or crosses a fast road. If that conduct was the decisive cause and the driver could do nothing to avoid the impact, there may be sole fault of the victim, which rules out compensation. Often, however, responsibility is shared between the two, which reduces the amount without eliminating it, because the driver keeps the duty to moderate speed and to allow for the presence of pedestrians. In our experience, sole fault of the pedestrian tends to be recognised only when it is well demonstrated, with the burden of proof on whoever invokes it.

You are still protected, though who pays the compensation may vary from case to case. Contrary to what is often thought, the insurance of a stolen vehicle guarantees, as a rule, the compensation owed by the perpetrators of the theft to third parties in good faith (artigo 15.º, n.º 2, do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). So, if the car is identified and has valid insurance, the party that compensates the victim is that vehicle's insurer, which can then demand reimbursement from the thief for what it paid (artigo 27.º, n.º 1, alínea b), do mesmo diploma). The Fundo de Garantia Automóvel is only called upon when the vehicle is not identified or has no valid and effective insurance (artigo 49.º). In that scenario, bodily injury is guaranteed, but property damage, where the liable party is unknown, only under more limited conditions. If the thief is later caught, the Fund can demand reimbursement from them for what it paid. How to claim from it is explained in the answer on how the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel works.

As a rule, yes. Even where the manoeuvre was deliberate, the incident arises out of road traffic and tends to be treated as a road traffic accident. The law itself expressly provides that compulsory motor insurance guarantees the compensation due even in accidents that were deliberately caused (artigo 15.º, n.º 2, do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). In practice, the insurer pays the victim first. Because there was intent, it may then recover from the driver everything it paid, through what is known as the right of recourse (artigo 27.º, n.º 1). This is how the Supreme Court of Justice (Supremo Tribunal de Justiça) decided in a case of intentional running-over, ordering the insurer to compensate the victim and recognising its right of recourse against the driver, in the judgment of 17 January 2013 ↗. Criminal liability is a different matter. The insurer is liable for the compensation, which is dealt with under civil law. The crime, whether an offence against physical integrity or homicide or attempted homicide, is personal. Where the elements of a criminal offence are made out, it is dealt with under criminal law. No policy covers it and whoever committed it answers in the criminal proceedings, with the penalty that comes to be imposed. As always in these cases, everything depends on the evidence about what happened and about the intent of the person driving. In these situations two sets of proceedings run side by side, the civil claim for compensation and the criminal proceedings. In our experience, it helps to be assisted by a team of lawyers who work across both areas, civil liability and criminal law, so that neither dimension is neglected.

It depends on the model. Under Decreto-Lei n.º 26/2025, de 20 de março, ordinary scooters (as a rule up to 25 km/h and 25 kg) remain treated as pedal cycles and fall outside compulsory insurance. The more powerful ones do need insurance. For the ordinary ones, insurance is not compulsory but is advisable, because in an accident the rider is personally liable for the damage they cause, with their own assets, with no fund to fall back on. For the powerful ones, if they should have been insured and were not, the victim is compensated by the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel, which then recovers everything from the liable party by way of recourse. How to claim from the Fund is explained in the answer on how the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel works.

In most cases it is not necessary, because the party liable to pay is the at-fault vehicle's insurer. In hit-and-run or bad-faith cases, however, the driver themselves can be sued in court. If the driver fled without ever being identified, see the answer on the person at fault who flees without stopping to help, which explains recourse to the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel.

There is no automatic culprit. As a rule, liability falls on the driver who causes the impact by not keeping a safe distance that would let them brake in time (art.º 18.º, n.º 1 do Código da Estrada), but fault can be shared when more than one driver contributed to the collisions. Each insurer is liable for the part attributable to its own policyholder. The final position of the vehicles, the photograph of the damage and the joint accident statement for each collision are decisive in distributing responsibility.

The right to compensation remains, as a rule, even when the person responsible is a family member. For bodily injury, the party that pays is the vehicle's insurer and not the family member in question, so claiming does not mean demanding money from someone close. Property damage suffered by the spouse, ascendants or descendants of the liable driver or of the policyholder is, however, as a rule outside compulsory insurance (art.º 14.º, n.º 2 do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). A lawyer can help check what the policy covers in each specific case.

The same incident can be, at the same time, a road accident and a workplace accident. They are two distinct regimes, with separate policies and possibly separate insurers, so it makes sense to claim on both fronts. They are not, however, two entirely independent processes, because the law coordinates them so that there is no double recovery for the same harm. In practice, the workplace-accident insurer usually pays first, straight away and without arguing about fault, paying for clinical assistance, incapacities and pensions. It is then subrogated to the injured person's rights against the party liable for the road accident, and can reimburse itself from the motor insurer for what it advanced. This is why the two regimes are not simply added together without limit. The reparations are complementary and you cannot be paid twice for the same loss, though you may combine items of a different nature that each regime covers. The workplace-accident regime comprises medical, surgical, pharmaceutical and medicinal assistance, transport for treatment, compensation for temporary incapacity and for permanent incapacity for work, pensions and also, in the event of death, a pension for family members and the statutory allowances. The road-accident regime, through civil liability, seeks full reparation of the harm. It covers the non-pecuniary damages that workplace reparation as a rule leaves out, such as pain and suffering, aesthetic damage and biological damage, plus the part of the pecuniary damages not covered by the workplace-accident reparation. As this coordination is technical, a lawyer should follow both claims from the outset and prevent any right from being lost along the way.

There are situations where it is. If the company failed to provide adequate conditions (a vehicle in poor condition, excessive driving hours), it can be held liable. That liability has to be demonstrated, so it is worth asking a lawyer early on to gather evidence of the conditions in which the work was carried out.

The people who take on the case are the direct heirs, as a rule the spouse, the children or the parents of the victim. At such a difficult time, the lawyer's role is to handle the procedural side, from deadlines to reports, so that the family does not have to deal with it alone. On the compensation and pensions for family members, see, among the special questions, the answer on the accident that results in death.

In the event of death, the direct family members (spouse, children, parents) are entitled to compensation and pensions. The reparation covers the loss of the right to life, the family members' suffering and the pecuniary harm of those who depended on the victim. As several people with rights of their own and rules of priority between family members are involved, explained in the question on the rights of the victim's siblings, a lawyer's support helps to organise who claims what.

As a rule, it covers them in full, against supporting documents. The invoices and receipts for the funeral are the basis for the reimbursement.

Siblings may have a right, but only last in the legal order. Under artigo 496.º, n.os 2 e 3, do Código Civil, compensation for non-pecuniary damage goes, first and jointly, to the spouse not legally separated (or to the person who lived with the victim in a de facto union) and to the children or other descendants; failing these, to the parents or other ascendants. Last of all, to the siblings or the nephews and nieces who represent them. In practice, siblings will only be called upon if the victim leaves no spouse, de facto partner, descendants or ascendants, and they must still demonstrate the harm they suffered. It is a case-by-case assessment that requires solid proof of those ties.

They can. This is what the law treats as ricochet harm, the harm suffered not by the direct victim but by those close to them. In the event of death, the spouse and children are jointly entitled to compensation for their own suffering (art.º 496.º, n.º 2 do Código Civil), set by the court according to what is fair in the case. When the victim survives but is left with particularly serious injuries, the Supreme Court has accepted that close family members are also compensated. Each family member is assessed individually and the amount always depends on the case.

The law does not require one, but those who negotiate alone usually receive less. The insurer negotiates compensation every day and knows exactly what each item of harm is worth. Think about what happens after the accident. The letter or email from the insurer arrives, with an offer already calculated on the basis of the company's own doctors' assessment. A lawyer experienced in this field knows the courts' decisions, knows what can be claimed, and that is what tends to level the playing field. The specific risks of signing without that analysis are explained in the question on the risks of accepting the offer without a lawyer.

At NAA, it does not mean doctors or experts on the firm's staff, because the ones who run the case are the lawyers. It means external technical support, brought in case by case, because an accident has a legal dimension, but also a medical, psychological and financial one. Each of those dimensions needs someone able to assess it. Depending on what is at issue, the lawyers at NAA can call on external experts in accident reconstruction, doctors, psychologists, physiotherapists and accountants, each in their own field. Not every case needs all of them. Each specialist comes in only when the case warrants it. The expert reconstructs the dynamics of the accident, from the speeds, the points of impact and the position of the vehicles, which helps to show how it all happened and who was responsible. The doctor documents and quantifies the after-effects and the incapacity. The psychologist assesses the emotional impact, such as anxiety or the fear of driving. The physiotherapist follows the recovery. The accountant calculates the income lost and the income that will no longer be earned. It falls to the lawyer to gather and bring together all these contributions into a coherent strategy, turn them into evidence, justify the amount of the claim and conduct the negotiation or the court proceedings. It is that technical evidence that underpins the compensation claim and that can carry weight against an insurer that looks mainly at its own figures.

The main risk is giving up amounts that are owed to you. As explained in connection with the insurer's first offer, initial offers rarely include psychological harm, loss of future income or pensions, which are often the largest items. Frequently there are injuries or losses that were left out of the assessment. Without a careful analysis, it is hard to notice before signing. That is where a lawyer comes in, setting the offer against all the harm and checking what was left out.

On the contrary. Most cases are resolved in negotiation, without reaching trial. At that stage, the lawyer knows the insurers' criteria and presents technical reports that support a more appropriate amount. Court is left for when no agreement is possible.

No one can guarantee it. What experience shows is a pattern that repeats. Insurers tend to offer less to those who negotiate without support, and the courts frequently recognise amounts higher than the initial offers. A lawyer's work follows a set order. First, they reassess all the harm, one item at a time. Then they identify what fell short of what was owed and put it right, whether in negotiation or in court. The outcome always depends on the specific circumstances of each case. If you already have an offer on the table, the next step is this. Ask for it in writing and have it assessed before you reply.

Because the medical assessment should not depend only on the party that is going to pay. The insurer's doctors work for the company. An independent doctor examines the after-effects without that tie, and their report makes a difference in negotiation and in court.

Depression, anxiety and the fear of driving again are frequent consequences of an accident. They are also compensable harm. Psychological support treats the person and at the same time produces the evidence needed to include that harm in the compensation claim.

With both. In practice, the lawyer handles the report to the insurer, the monitoring of deadlines, the gathering of documents and the negotiation, as well as coordinating the medical follow-up. One example of the technical value lies in the three-year limitation period. As a rule, a simple letter to the insurer is not enough to interrupt it; in principle a judicial step or the insurer's own acknowledgement of the right is needed. That is where the support of a lawyer helps to keep track of deadlines and to choose the right means in each case. The victim is left free to concentrate on recovery.

The advantage lies in the evidence. Those who have support from the first day record the physical, psychological and economic harm straight away, while it is still easy to document. Months later, reconstructing that evidence is much harder.

That title does not exist. The Portuguese Bar Association does not recognise road accidents as a formal specialty, so in Portugal, unlike in other countries, "road accident specialist lawyer" is not an official title. The useful criterion is a different one. Look for a lawyer with proven experience in accident claims, in negotiating with insurers and in conducting compensation proceedings in court.

There is no "best road accident lawyer in Portugal", however much the phrase is searched for. There is the lawyer suited to your case. Look for proven practice in road accidents and the support of doctors and experts used to assessing injuries and incapacities, because that assessment bears on the final amount of the compensation. The confidence you feel from the first contact also counts. Some cases are resolved quickly and others take their time, so it is worth choosing someone you can count on from start to finish.

There are fifteen specialties currently recognised by the Portuguese Bar Association (Regulamento n.º 9/2016, with Maritime Law added in 2016): Administrative Law, Tax Law, Labour Law, Banking and Financial Law, European Law, Intellectual and Industrial Property and Competition Law, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Company Law, Family and Minors Law, Consumer Law, Environmental Law, Gender Equality Law, Health Law and Bioethics, and Maritime Law. To obtain the title, time alone is not enough. The lawyer needs more than ten years of uninterrupted registration with the Bar, an equal period of effective practice in the field and recognition, by the Bar itself, of specific competence, both theoretical and practical, assessed on the basis of their record. The title is not for life either, since every five years the lawyer has to submit a record proving continued practice and training, on pain of losing it. Road accidents are not on this list, so a road accident specialist lawyer is not, strictly speaking, a title recognised by the Bar, even though the phrase is much searched for by those who have been injured in an accident. Note that in November 2024 the Bar approved a new regulation on specialties, which may raise the requirement to more than fifteen years of registration and broaden the list, but which as at this date does not appear to have been published or to be in force.

In principle, yes. They are distinct rights, with different sources, so they tend to be cumulative. There are, however, coordination rules. When Social Security pays benefits for the same accident, it is subrogated and tends to claim those amounts from the liable party's insurer and not from you, as explained in the question on Social Security benefits, in the section on the insurer's role. The part already covered by those benefits ceases to be paid to you in the civil compensation, to avoid double recovery for the same harm. Even so, anyone who has already received twice for the same harm may have to return the overlapping part. It is therefore best to coordinate the two claims from the outset, with a lawyer's support, so that there are no surprises over reimbursements.

Each accident gives rise to its own rights, with a separate case and possibly different insurers. As the after-effects add up, the medical assessment must consider the overall loss of capacity, working out what each accident caused. Otherwise, old injuries can be used to play down the new ones.

Yes. The works and equipment required by the after-effects (from an access ramp to an adapted bathroom) go into the calculation of the compensation. The claim should be supported by technical reports from engineers or occupational therapists, with specific quotes.

On road transport (bus, taxi, TVDE) the protection is the same as for any other victim, and the claim is made, as a rule, to the transport operator's insurer or to the insurer of the vehicle responsible for the accident. Accidents involving a train or the metro, however, are as a rule outside compulsory motor insurance (artigo 4.º, n.os 2 e 3, do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). The victim remains protected, but under the liability regime of the operator concerned, which may or may not have transferred it to an insurer, with its own deadlines and procedures.

In a skid involving only your motorbike, there is no third party from whom to claim compensation, and compulsory insurance does not cover the bodily injury of the very driver responsible for the accident (art.º 14.º, n.º 1 do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007). What remains is to turn to the optional cover in the policy, such as own-damage and personal-accident cover for the driver, if you took them out. If there was a poor state of the road or an obstacle that contributed to the fall, then there may be a liable party to pursue.

Yes, as a rule. The concept of a road accident is not limited to public roads, since it covers incidents involving vehicles in car parks, on roads within condominiums, on company premises or in other private spaces. What matters is that the movement of a vehicle is involved, not the type of road on which the accident occurs. Even being run over by a vehicle within a private restricted-access site (think of the service area of an airport) can be treated as a road accident. There are borderline situations, so each case is assessed on its facts. If in doubt about yours, it is worth checking with a lawyer.

As a rule, the party liable is the entity responsible for the road: the municipal council on municipal roads, the state road operator (Infraestruturas de Portugal) on the national network or the concession-holder on tolled motorways. On public roads, it is for the injured party to demonstrate the failure of maintenance or signage and its link to the accident (Lei 67/2007), so it is best to preserve the evidence at the scene straight away, with photographs and witnesses. On tolled motorways the burden is reversed and it is the concession-holder that has to prove it met its safety obligations (Lei 24/2007).

No, alcohol does not, in itself, cause the loss of the right to compensation. It can give rise to a road-traffic offence, but that is distinct from civil liability. Alcohol only matters if it contributed to the accident or to the worsening of the harm, in which case the court considers reducing or excluding the compensation, according to the degree of fault (art.º 570.º do Código Civil). And it is for whoever invokes that contribution to demonstrate it; the mere presence of alcohol is not enough.

For road accidents, the first consultation costs 60 euros (VAT included). This amount is specific to this area, as in others the consultation fee may be different. In that conversation, with no commitment to proceed, it becomes clear whether you are entitled to compensation and what the appropriate path is. If the case stays with the firm, that amount is absorbed into the fees to be charged.

No. It costs 60 euros (VAT included), with the amount known before booking. We charge because the consultation produces a result on the same day: the questions answered, the reading of the insurer's offer, the deadlines of Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007 applied to your case, the next steps in order and a warning about what you should not sign in the meantime. Professional ethics also weigh here, because the Portuguese Bar Association prohibits touting for clients, which keeps us from using free consultations as a way of attracting them. Those without means are not left out; they can turn to legal aid, explained in the question on the free lawyer.

Because we follow a different principle and we explain it plainly. The consultation is a professional service with a value of its own, and it is often what prevents the costly mistake, the agreement signed too soon or the deadline missed. Charging for it leaves us free to tell you, with the same calm, that the case is worth pursuing or that it is not, because the service provided in the consultation is already paid for. Judge any consultation, free or paid, by what you take from it: concrete deadlines, documents to gather and a strategy.

Not as a mere slice of the compensation. What the law prohibits is the quota litis pact, the agreement in which fees are set solely as a function of the outcome (art.º 106.º do Estatuto da Ordem dos Advogados). It is legitimate, and indeed usual in these areas, to agree at the outset a base amount and add to it a component calculated by reference to the value of the matter and the estimated work, as well as to the success obtained. This way the price of the work is known from the start and the success component, when agreed, only applies if the expected results are achieved. Before proceeding, confirm how each part is calculated and on what conditions the success component is due.

There is no fixed scale. Fees are agreed between lawyer and client, case by case. The Estatuto da Ordem dos Advogados sets out the criteria for that agreement: the complexity and importance of the matter, the time spent, the value at stake and the result obtained. There is, however, one limit that Portuguese law imposes, the quota litis pact, explained in the question on the percentage of the compensation. At NAA, the method of calculation is explained and agreed in writing before the work begins, so that there are no surprises when the fee note arrives.

Those on low incomes can apply to Social Security for legal aid and be represented by a court-appointed lawyer. Depending on the economic situation, the aid may include, among other things, full exemption from or the phased payment of the fees and court costs. The Social Security legal-protection simulator ↗ lets you check whether you meet the conditions. The application is made by a specific form, addressed to Social Security (Modelo PJ 1-DGSS ↗). Many insurance policies also include Legal Protection cover that pays the lawyer and the court costs, with free choice of representative, as explained in the question on insurance with legal protection.

You can. The law guarantees the insured the free choice of lawyer, with no obligation to accept the professional appointed by the insurer (art.º 170.º, n.º 1, al. a) do Decreto-Lei n.º 72/2008). Legal protection covers the fees, within the policy's cover limits and excesses. Following the incident, tell the insurer that you are calling on that cover and that you are exercising free choice.

The claim starts with reporting the incident to the insurer and gathering the evidence: medical reports, the police report, invoices and witness statements. With that documentation, a reasoned claim is submitted, as a rule to the liable party's insurer or to the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel where there is no valid insurance, as explained in the answer on the uninsured driver. Under the compulsory insurance regime (Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2007), the insurer has legal deadlines to respond with a reasonable offer. If that offer is insufficient, negotiation follows and possibly court proceedings, where the amount no longer depends on the insurer and comes to be set by the judge. It is best to identify from the outset all the harm to be claimed, pecuniary and non-pecuniary, because harm not included in the claim may go uncompensated.

The calculation weighs up the severity of the injuries, the incapacity assigned, age, income, non-pecuniary damage and the impact on personal and working life. The better documented these factors are, with medical and financial evidence, the more solid the amount claimed. There are guideline tables, such as the one in Portaria 377/2008 (updated by Portaria 679/2009), but the courts decide independently, case by case, as explained in the answer on the table for calculating compensation and its force before the court. Two apparently similar cases can reach very different amounts, depending on the evidence gathered and the circumstances of each injured party.

These are the direct economic losses: the repair or total loss of the vehicle, damaged objects, the replacement car, travel and the loss of income linked to being unable to use the vehicle. They are distinct from bodily and non-pecuniary harm and are claimed on the basis of invoices and quotes. Without those documents, proving these losses becomes difficult.

Yes. CIMPAS, the insurance mediation and arbitration centre, hears these disputes, with free mediation and low-cost arbitration. As a rule, the insurer is obliged to submit to arbitration in disputes worth up to 5,000 euros. Alternatively, you can complain free of charge to the insurer's customer ombudsman. Note that CIMPAS tends not to cover cases of death or permanent incapacity.