Product Liability 2009 - Arnold & Porter LLP

Oppenheim Hungary
5.3 To what extent, if at all, do issues of concealment or fraud
affect the running of any time limit?
Such issues do affect the running of the time limit as the term of
limitation commences when the injured party learns of, or, with due
attention, could have learned of the damage, the defect in the
product, or the cause of the defect, as well as of the identity of the
producer/manufacturer or the importer.
6 Remedies
6.1 What remedies are available e.g. monetary compensation,
injunctive/declaratory relief?
According to Section 355 of the Hungarian Civil Code the
aggrieved party may claim “in integrum restitutio” or if it is not
possible, monetary compensation shall be provided to the aggrieved
party for material and non-material damages. In the course of a
civil procedure for damages injunctive or declaratory relief may not
be claimed.
6.2 What types of damage are recoverable e.g. damage to the
product itself, bodily injury, mental damage, damage to
property?
The Product Liability Act defines the notion of damage as:
any pecuniary or non-pecuniary damage incurred by the
death, bodily injury or any impairment in the health of a
person; and
any damage caused by a defective product to other objects
valued in excess of five hundred Euros as converted to
Forints by the official exchange rate quoted by the National
Bank of Hungary for the day on which the damage occurs if
such object is for private use or private consumption
according to its intended purpose and if generally used for
such purpose by its owner.
6.3 Can damages be recovered in respect of the cost of
medical monitoring (e.g. covering the cost of investigations
or tests) in circumstances where the product has not yet
malfunctioned and caused injury, but it may do so in
future?
It can be inferred from the text of the Product Liability Act that only
damages that have already occurred can be claimed.
6.4 Are punitive damages recoverable? If so, are there any
restrictions?
Hungarian law does not recognise the notion of punitive damages.
6.5 Is there a maximum limit on the damages recoverable
from one manufacturer e.g. for a series of claims arising
from one incident or accident?
No such maximum limit applies.
6.6 Do special rules apply to the settlement of
claims/proceedings e.g. is court approval required for the
settlement of group/class actions, or claims by infants, or
otherwise?
No special rules apply.
ICLG TO: PRODUCT LIABILITY 2009
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6.7 Can Government authorities concerned with health and
social security matters claim from any damages awarded
or settlements paid to the Claimant without admission of
liability reimbursement of treatment costs, unemployment
benefits or other costs paid by the authorities to the
Claimant in respect of the injury allegedly caused by the
product. If so, who has responsibility for the repayment of
such sums?
Costs incurred by health or social security authorities in connection
with an alleged injury may not be reimbursed. When the court
determines the amount of damages payable to the aggrieved party it
also takes into consideration the social security benefits paid,
therefore the compensation paid to the aggrieved party is already
reduced by social security benefits.
7 Costs / Funding
7.1 Can the successful party recover: (a) court fees or other
incidental expenses; (b) their own legal costs of bringing
the proceedings, from the losing party?
The successful party can recover all reasonable costs incurred
during the proceedings such as legal fees and duties paid. Usually
the court orders five percent of the overall value of the claim to be
paid as the fees of the legal representative in accordance with a law
decree issued by the Ministry of Justice.
7.2 Is public funding e.g. legal aid, available?
Under the Act on Legal Aid (Act LXXX of 2003) persons of social
need are eligible for legal aid from the Ministry of Justice. Since
January 2008, legal aid rules have included trial representation in
civil matters such as issues of product liability.
7.3 If so, are there any restrictions on the availability of public
funding?
We refer to the answer given to question 7.2.
7.4 Is funding allowed through conditional or contingency fees
and, if so, on what conditions?
We refer to the answer given to question 7.2.
7.5 Is third party funding of claims permitted and, if so, on
what basis may funding be provided?
Third party funding is not an accepted institution in Hungary.
8 Updates
8.1 Please provide, in no more than 300 words, a summary of
any new cases, trends and developments in Product
Liability Law in Hungary.
The Act on product liability was last amended in 2005. According
to this amendment, in case of damage caused by a medicine the
producer cannot be exempted from liability stating that at the time
when the medicine was placed on the market the deficiency of the
medicine that caused the trouble could not have been discovered
according to the current state of technological or scientific
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