In the event of death or injury in an earthquake, the heirs of the deceased, certain relatives of the deceased and injured persons, persons whose movable or immovable property has been damaged, have the right to claim material and moral compensation in the cases described below. First of all, the damage caused by the earthquake must arise from the fact that the building work that collapsed, split or fell due to the earthquake was poorly constructed or not properly maintained. Poor construction of the construction work means that it is not built in accordance with scientific, scientific and technical rules. If it is constructed in violation of zoning rules and scientific rules, it is concluded that the work (building) is bad (defective). Persons who have suffered death and injury due to the failure of the administration to carry out the search and rescue of persons trapped under the rubble due to the collapsed buildings in the earthquake in a timely manner and in accordance with scientific and technical rules are also entitled to claim material and moral compensation. This issue is explained under the heading related to administrative jurisdiction.

1- Basis of Liability and Determination of the Responsible Party: If the building or a similar work of construction has been demolished or damaged even if it has not been demolished; If the injured party is a tenant, he/she may file a lawsuit for compensation against the lessor based on the lease agreement. If the building has not been demolished and is repairable, he/she may request the lessor to repair the defect free of charge. However, if the lessor is not at fault, he may be relieved from paying compensation, but not from the obligation to repair. If the injured party is the owner of the dwelling or workplace, he/she may file a lawsuit for compensation against the purchaser based on the sales contract or against the contractor based on the work contract. If the building has not been demolished and is in a repairable condition, he/she may ask the seller or contractor to repair the defect free of charge or to reduce the price in proportion to the defect. If the building has been demolished or severely damaged, the right of the owner of the building to rescind the contract is also reserved in the sales contract or work contract. The seller cannot be relieved from the obligation to repair and repair direct damages even if he is not at fault, but he can be relieved from indirect damages by proving that he is not at fault. If the injured party is the owner of the dwelling or workplace, he/she may file a lawsuit for compensation against the building inspection bodies, supervising architects and engineers, project authors, laboratory officers and the building contractor in accordance with the Law on Building Inspection. Incomplete, faulty and defective construction of the building in violation of the license and its annexes, science, art and health rules is a cause of liability according to this law. For buildings with compulsory earthquake insurance (TCIP), the Catastrophe Insurance Pool pays insurance compensation to the insured homeowner for material damages caused by earthquakes, up to an upper limit of TL 640,000 as of 25.11.2022. According to Article 13 of the Catastrophe Insurance Law, “Compensation for buildings with compulsory earthquake insurance and damaged due to earthquake shall be paid within thirty days at the latest following the completion of the necessary information and documents and damage assessment”. Those who have suffered damage can apply for this coverage via Alo Dask 125, e-Government or SMS. For buildings with voluntary earthquake insurance, the insured is paid by the insurance company for the material damage depending on the upper limit in the insurance policy. Damaged persons, whether or not they have a contractual relationship with the injured party, may file a lawsuit for damages against defective persons such as the contractor, supervising architects and engineers, and against the owner of the building work, whether or not they are at fault, in accordance with the tort provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations. Persons such as the contractor, supervising architects and engineers who have any kind of fault or negligence in the poor construction of the building shall be liable to all persons who have suffered damage due to that building, whether they live in the building or not, and a lawsuit for compensation can be filed against these persons. Pursuant to Article 69 of the Turkish Code of Obligations, the owner of the work of construction shall be liable for the damage caused by the defect in the construction or lack of maintenance of the work of construction against all persons who are damaged by the work of construction, whether or not they live in the building, even if they have no fault due to poor construction or maintenance, and a lawsuit for compensation may be filed against this person. Damaged persons may sue local authorities or governorships and the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change (formerly Public Works and Settlement) for compensation. According to the Zoning Law, the local governments that give floor, construction and residence permits to the building or zoning the area that should not be opened for zoning and settlement, and the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change that approves the zoning plans and issues licenses are responsible. According to the Turkish Code of Obligations, the persons who are responsible for the damage for different legal reasons are jointly liable to those who are damaged, so the persons who have the right to file a lawsuit for compensation can file a lawsuit against all of them or against one or more of them in the same lawsuit.

 

2- Persons Who Can Request Compensation and Damages That Can Be Requested: If death has occurred, the legal heirs of the deceased may claim compensation for funeral expenses and, if death did not occur immediately, for unreimbursed treatment expenses and loss of earnings during the period of incapacity for work; persons who lost the ongoing financial support of the deceased before his/her death or possible future financial support if he/she had not died (such as the deceased’s cohabitant, child, parents, fiancée) may claim compensation for the loss of support; relatives of the deceased (such as spouse, mother, father, child) may also claim moral damages. If the physical integrity is impaired (such as injury, illness, disability), the injured person may request compensation for unreimbursed treatment expenses, care expenses incurred in good faith, material damage (deprived earnings) limited to the time they cannot work in case of temporary incapacity, and if there is a permanent loss of working capacity, even if they are not actually working, they may request compensation for permanent incapacity and may also request moral damages. In case of serious injury, the relatives of the injured person may only claim non-pecuniary damages. In the event of partial or total damage to movable or immovable property, the owners may request compensation for material damages such as loss of value, repair costs, and expenses incurred due to the inability to use the property during the repair period. Those whose movable and immovable properties have been partially or completely damaged; if they have made an evidential determination as explained in Article (B/b) above, the damage determined during this determination phase, if they have not made a determination, the damaged party has the burden of proving the scope of the damage. If the exact amount of the damage cannot be proved, the judge shall determine the amount of the damage in accordance with equity, taking into account the ordinary course of events and the measures taken by the injured party. The damages of those who have suffered loss of support or bodily harm shall be calculated by actuarial experts, and if the injured party is unable to know the exact amount of the loss at the outset, he/she may file an indefinite claim lawsuit. In the lawsuits to be filed, the plaintiffs should ask for interest to be charged on the damage from the date of the event.

3- Time Periods Applicable to Lawsuits: A distinction is made between lawsuits filed against the administration and others in terms of the time periods to which the lawsuits are subject. The statute of limitations for lawsuits to be filed in civil courts against persons other than the administration is twenty (20) years if the damage to the structure is caused by the gross negligence (intent or gross negligence) of the seller or contractor, five (5) years for immovable structures and two (2) years for movable structures if there is no gross negligence. If the claim is based on an insurance contract, two years from the due date of the insurance indemnity claim, and six (6) years from the realization of the risk. For the lawsuit filed against the building contractor, building supervision company, owner architect, supervising architect or engineer, laboratory officials based on the Law on Building Supervision, fifteen (15) years for the structural system of the building and two (2) years for other non-carrier parts of the building, and this period runs from the date of obtaining the occupancy permit. If the lawsuit is based on the provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations related to tort, it is two (2) years from the date of learning of the damage and the responsible party, and in any case ten (10) years “starting from the date of the act”. Since the damage arose with the earthquake and not on the date of the bad construction of the structure, it is accepted that the ten (10) year period will start to run on the date of the earthquake with the appropriate interpretation. In addition, if the compensation arises from an act that requires a penalty for which a longer statute of limitations is prescribed by the criminal law, this statute of limitations shall apply. Therefore, the statute of limitations for a lawsuit for damages based on wrongful act shall not be less than twenty (20) years in case of killing with probable intent and fifteen (15) years in case of killing with conscious negligence.

4- Competent and Authorized Court: Lawsuits filed against the lessor, seller, contractor, insurance company based on the contract must be filed in the civil courts in the place of residence of the defendants or the place where the earthquake occurred. The Civil Court of Peace is the competent court for lease agreements, the Consumer Court is the competent court for residential sales, works (contracting) and insurance contracts, and the Commercial Court is the competent court for commercial cases. In places where there is no Consumer Court, the Civil Court of First Instance is authorized as the Consumer Court. As mediation is accepted as a condition of litigation in consumer and commercial disputes, it is necessary to apply for the mediation process before filing a lawsuit. If the lawsuit to be filed against the contractor, the architect who designed the project, the supervising architect or engineer, the building inspection company or the building owner is based on the provisions of tort, the plaintiff may file a lawsuit at the Civil Court of First Instance in the defendant’s place of residence, the place where the earthquake occurred or his (the plaintiff’s) place of residence.