Beginning of the end of the legal dispute on jurisdictional competence in relation to civil liability claims for accidents in the workplace?

This decision appeared to bring an end to the traditional dispute over competent jurisdiction for the examination of the civil liability of companies regarding claims for damages caused by accidents in the workplace. The fulfilment of security duties represents a general duty of care incorporated into an employment contract by law. For this reason, civil liability claims are a matter for the employment jurisdiction. However, if claims are also brought against employers by third parties (e.g., owners or building technicians) who have no employment relationship with the injured party, the “gravitation” towards the civil jurisdiction determines the competence of same, in order to avoid causae contentia division. The final decision was delivered by Judge Encarnación Roca Trías as the result of a plenary judgement which unifies the doctrine. In fact, there are several rulings in 2009 containing the same decision. For this reason we consider that although the original ruling was in 2008, the paper may also be included in the present volume. Article by Carlos Aguilar and Mariano Yzquierdo, published in the collective book “2010 Anuario Contencioso para Abogagos”, La Ley – Wolters Kluwer, 2010