LShould a person with a disability who circulates in his electric wheelchair be qualified as a pedestrian or a driver of a land motor vehicle? For insurers, this issue is important: under the Law of 5 July 1985, known as the Badinter law, the driver of a vehicle victim of an accident is, in fact, compensated in a limited way if it turns out that he has committed a fault which contributed to his own damage.
On the other hand, the pedestrian victim of an accident, and also at fault, is compensated normally, except if his fault is “Inexcusable”.
Until now, the Court of Cassation has ruled that a motor vehicle – mini-motorbike for children or thermal scooter – should be considered a vehicle, and, as a corollary, be insured as such, so that its owner can compensate his victims in the event of an accident. It has just modified this case law, on the occasion of the following dispute.
On the evening of February 11, 2015, Marion X returned home in her electric chair. She crosses a multi-lane road outside the pedestrian crossing, and is hit by a car. The car’s insurer, Areas Dommages, refuses to compensate her, considering that she was at fault. The tribunal de grande instance of Toulon condemns him there, because it judges that Mr.me X had “Pedestrian quality”.
“Not a choice of mobility, an obligation”
But the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal crippled this judgment, January 30, 2020. It considers that, “Fitted with a motorized propulsion system (…) M’s wheelchairme X ” is a land motor vehicle. It halves the latter’s right to compensation, which appeals to cassation.
His lawyer, Me Frédéric Rocheteau, protests that the wheelchair of a disabled person, “Even if it has an engine, has absolutely nothing to do” with a vehicle: this chair, sort of “Prosthesis” or “Extension” of the body, is “An extension of the person”.
“The chair is his legs!” “, he pleads, before concluding that he allows the disabled person to become “The pedestrian that his physical disability prevented him from being”.
The lawyer for Areas Damages, Me Didier The Prado, claims the maintenance of jurisprudence. He reminds us that a motorized wheelchair traveling at more than 6 km / h can “Run over a pedestrian”, and that, if he is not insured, as a car should be, he will not be able to compensate this third party.
Although this difficult problem divides the magistrates, the Court of Cassation judge, May 6, 2021 (n ° 20-14.551), as suggested by Mr.e Rocheteau, that an electric wheelchair is a ” medical device “, allowing the disabled person to move around, and no “A land motor vehicle”.
The case will have to be re-examined, and Marion X compensated with the status of pedestrian, which the APF-France handicap association is delighted with. “The wheelchair is not a choice of mobility, but an obligation”, she recalls.