Double material and moral damage
In September 2021, Hélène received 16,500 euros following the death of her Frison, Pepsi, who had succumbed to his leg injury the day after the accident. Françoise, she appealed the first judgment rendered by the civil interests chamber which recognized her moral prejudice without granting her compensation for the loss of her 13-year-old Quarter horse, Emma, hit in the chest. “For lack of an invoice, I had contacted the breeder who sent me a document attesting to the breed and the value of the animal. He was a six-month-old colt when I bought him,” explains Françoise.
In September 2022, the Metz Court of Appeal delivers its judgment. Françoise finally received 8,400 euros in total, 4,000 euros for her material damage, as much for moral damage, the rest for veterinary expenses. The retiree counted: her file was returned eight times in total. “It’s an obstacle course. We must not be discouraged, we must go all the way,” she explains.
A pony killed by two bullets near Metz
A recent news item motivates his remarks. A pony was fatally injured by two bullets, lodged in his left shoulder last November. The animal was in the meadow, on the edge of the Ancy-Dornot forest, near Metz. A hunting party had just taken place nearby. The owner of the pony and that of the land filed a complaint for “endangering others” against the successful bidder of the hunt. The latter defends hunters, accuses poachers.
Françoise remembers that she too had filed a complaint just after the death of the two mares in Guénange. “And then nothing more”, she sums up. She took a lawyer a year later to try to find out where the investigation was. “Once, I was told it was just a horse,” reports Françoise. But for her, the accident raises questions more broadly about worrying shortcomings, about the safety of motorists, walkers, other domestic animals.
