Facts
James Taylor was returning on his motorbike (a Ducati Supersport 750), on 19 January 2021, from Valencia to Malaga, on the Carretera Nacional 340. As he passed kilometre point 646, on a curved section, he was surprised by a cow standing in the road. Mr. Taylor’s manoeuvre to avoid the animal resulted in the motorbike destabilising and the rider falling off, being thrown off the road and ending up hitting one of the beams supporting the bionda (double wave-shaped metal plate) or crash barrier. As a result of the sharp nature of these beams, the blow severed Mr Taylor’s left leg above the knee. The animal had escaped from a farm adjacent to the road, where a livestock farm is located, due to the poor condition of the fence designed to prevent animals from escaping.
On 21 March 2022, Mr Taylor lodged a claim with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport for the Administration’s liability to pay compensation. The request was expressly rejected on the grounds that the damage was not attributable to the administrative action, but to the driver himself (who, according to the report drawn up at the time by the Guardia Civil, was travelling at 145 km/hour).
Civil Guard, was travelling at 145 km/h) and the lack of diligence on the part of Pedro Alcántara, owner of the livestock farm from which the animal escaped.
Mr Alcántara’s legal representative filed a contentious-administrative appeal, claiming that the contentious-administrative court lacked jurisdiction. In his opinion, the non-contractual liability of Mr. Pedro should be tried by a judicial body of the civil jurisdiction, as it was a lawsuit between private parties; and, furthermore, the civil judicial body should not apply the regulation of the patrimonial liability of the Administration, but rather art. 1905 of the Civil Code.