Unsecured chunks of ice from high-rise buildings suddenly changed the lives of Vibeke (then 37 years old) and Robin (then 24 years old) in a dramatic way 14 years ago.
In March 2010, which was similar to this winter in southern Norway, they were both hit in the head by lumps of ice six days apart.
Vibeke Mortensen was done for the day in her job as a police officer in the Oslo police district.
She was going to pick up her parked car outside an apartment building in Jens Bjelkes gate in Grønland. Then a lump of ice came thundering from the 5th floor. The sons were then three and six years old.
Robin Vedvik Helmersen was a student. He was hit one morning by a 10-kilogram block of ice from the roof above the 7th floor of a block of flats in Niels Juels gate on Frogner in Oslo.
10 KILO: The biggest lump of ice hit Robin in the head. Photo: Øistein Norum Monsen / Dagbladet. view more
Robin (now 38) has never entered working life. Vibeke (now 52) has never returned to her police job. In 2016, she became the disability benefit.
The two landslide accidents were completely separate, but still have some common features. The block of flats in Jens Bjelkes gate was owned by a condominium, and in Niels Juels gate by a property company.
Hit by block of ice – was clinically dead
In both cases, there were the same rules for farm owners about securing the roof/clearing the roof of ice and snow – whether it is a joint owner, housing association or owned by a housing association. The responsibility of farm owners to control snow and ice on the roofs was a central theme in both cases.
And both farms were insured by major insurance companies against such accidents – Jens Bjelkes gate in If and Niels Juels gate in Gjensidige.
But the compensation for the two victims was very different after several rounds of court and subsequent settlements.
2.7 against 14 million
Robin Vedvik Helmersen received NOK 10 million from Gjensidige, which admitted responsibility and paid out the insurance policy’s maximum amount. In addition, the manager of the farm owner company, Kenneth Sandvold, paid 3.5 million in compensation.
The owner company had already paid NOK 500,000 in compensation after the first court round in the district court – i.e. NOK 14 million in total.
The condominium in Jens Bjelkes gate, which had received four fines from the traffic authority in Oslo municipality that winter for not having cleaned the roof, was sentenced to a fine of NOK 16,000 and to pay Vibeke Mortensen NOK 70,000 in compensation.
THREATENING: Icicles hang from the rooftops in central Oslo. Cold during the day and frost at night increase the risk of ice falling and lacerations from roofs. It can end in ugly accidents. Photo: Erik Flaaris Johansen / NTB Show more
If did not accept liability for damages. Only in 2021 – 11 years after the accident and five years after Vibeke Mortensen received disability benefits – did the insurance company and the victim agree on a settlement of approx. NOK 2.6 million in damages. So approx. 2.7 million in total in compensation.
Sting test: – The winner in a special class!
Age and injuries
– Why such a big difference in compensation?
– In all simplicity, the cases cannot be compared. The extent of the damage is so different, says lawyer Christian Lundin to Dagbladet.
He took both cases to court, and settlement negotiations afterwards.
FARM OWNERS’ RESPONSIBILITY: Lawyer Christian Lundin handled both of the most serious personal injury cases after ice fell from a roof in 2010. Photo: Christian Roth Christensen / Dagbladet. view more
Lawyer Lundin points to some main legal reasons for the differences in insurance payments and compensation amounts:
1. There were various medical injuries. Robin Vedvik Helmersen would have higher expenses to get back as healthy as possible.
2. The age difference between 24 and 37 years. According to calculation practice, the youngest has 13 years longer to live. He thus receives, among other things, a higher loss of income.
Christian Lundin has not worked with – and is not aware of – such ice avalanche injuries after the two cases in 2010.
– It is important to put the spotlight on these matters so that the farm owners are aware of their responsibility. Then we can avoid such incidents happening and harming innocent people, says Lundin.
Vibeke Mortensen briefly comments on her assessments when the settlement was concluded:
– The compensation gives me NOK 6,000 gross per month until I eventually turn 80.
ROOF COVER: On the way home from work, Vibeke Mortensen got a half-metre block of ice in her head. Now she is warning others. Video: NTB/Storyblocks / Nora Bakketun Show more
Fines of NOK 5,000
In this first, “old-fashioned” winter in Oslo in several years, Oslo municipality has doubled the number of fees for icicles during the first three weeks of January compared to the whole of 2023.
Initial price: NOK 5,000, with a 50 percent increase for repeated or serious violations.
EVERYWHERE: For the first time in many winters, there are a large number of roadblocks and warnings on pavements in Oslo – here Sandakerveien in Torshov. Photo_ Magnus Kallelid / Dagbladet. view more
In the same short period, the municipality has imposed 362 fees for failure to clear roofs of snow/ice. And in addition 85 fees for failure to remove warnings about the risk of landslides.
According to the police regulations, such flags must not be left outside for more than seven days. Then the roof must be cleaned.
– No, it is not sufficient for farm owners to mark with “roof collapse/danger of roof collapse”. It is the responsibility of the farm owner to ensure that the roof is cleared as soon as the notices about the risk of landslides have been put up, says expert consultant at the Urban Environment Agency in Oslo, Vigdis Johansen, to Your side.
Due to large temperature changes, there is an increased risk of roof collapse in Oslo. That is what occupies Vigdis Johansen when she is at work for the City Patrol in the City Environment Agency. Video: Daniel Wiese. Reporter: Daniel Wiese / Dagbladet TV. view more
Car: comprehensive insurance
What kind of insurance covers damage to parked cars due to lumps of ice from the roof?
Håvar Norheim, head of the liability department at the insurance company Gjensidige, has a clear answer there:
– The car’s comprehensive insurance covers such damages with the same excess as the car owner has agreed for other damages.
– The insurance company can go to recourse claims against the farm owner/house owner, but this does not affect the car owner. The insurance company can consider a so-called reduction in insurance cover if the car owner has not taken into account race danger flags and other race warnings.
RACE DANGER: Barriers and race danger pennants everywhere in Oslo this winter, here in the Old Town. Photo: Line Fransson / Dagbladet. view more
– Car owners who only have liability insurance?
– They must take up claims directly with the house owner/farm owner. Liability insurance does not cover such damages.
Norheim has not heard that there have been many cases of crash damage to cars this winter.
In recent years, there have been 10-20 such claims a year.
And he has not registered such ice slide injuries as student Robin Vedvik Helmersen and policewoman Vibeke Mortensen suffered in 2010.
2024-02-05 17:05:56
#punishment
