26 July, 2018

Compensation for incorrect food alerts

The German justice system recognizes the incorrect management of the food alarm that its administration launched 7 years ago by holding two Spanish companies responsible for the deaths of several people due to the transmission of the bacteria E-Coli with the intake of the cucumbers they exported to the country.

The food alarm caused significant reputational and economic losses to both Spanish companies and, therefore, the German administration assumed its financial responsibility by granting them compensation for incorrect food alerts. The German administration publicly admitted that the organic farming companies Hortícola Costa, Almeria, and Frunet Bio, Malaga, were not the carriers of E-Coli, but that the causes of the deaths were outbreaks grown in the country itself, in Lower Saxony.

It also considers that the statements made by the Head of Health in Hamburg, Cornelia Prüfer-Storcks, which in 2011 raised the alarm about the consumption of Spanish cucumbers, were precipitated and unfounded. This led to a fall in Andalusian exports of fruit and vegetables to Germany, but also forced the European Union to disburse around €200 million to withdraw products already on the market.

Thus, in Spain, according to Law 39/2015 and 40/2015, which provides for the “Property Liability of Public Administrations”, the administrators have the right to initiate a procedure for Property Liability before the Administration as a result of disproportionate administrative acts that have caused economic damage similar to that of the “cucumber crisis”. Which awards compensation for incorrect food alerts. To exercise this right we must bear in mind that:

• Prescribes to the year of occurrence of the fact
• In the event of compensation for annulment in administrative or administrative proceedings, it prescribes one year after the notification of an administrative decision or final judgment.
• The application for initiation must be accompanied by the economic assessment of the financial liability.
• As the German administration did not act in accordance with the principle of proportionality, and took an incorrect measure that caused excessive damage to Spanish business, the German court recognized the economic and reputational damage suffered by Andalusian companies, Hortícola Costa and Frunet Bio.

That is why the agreement reached has resulted not only in compensation but also in public recognition of the error of alarm management which they consider to be unfair and unfounded. If the public administration is responsible for your company suffering any financial or reputational damage, do not hesitate to consult us so that we can evaluate your case and explain the procedure to be followed to obtain compensation for incorrect food alerts.