Injured Abroad, or on Holiday in Cyprus

Where it happened decides more than where you live

This page is for two people. The first was on holiday or working in Cyprus and was injured here: at a hotel or resort, in a hire car, on an excursion, in the water, or on a building site while posted here. The second lives in Cyprus and was injured somewhere else.

Both start with the same three questions as any other claim, about duty, breach and cause. But two further questions arrive before them and have to be answered first, because everything else follows from the answers.

What to send us in a first enquiry

Where the accident happened, the date, and where you normally live. The name of the hotel, tour operator, hire company, excursion provider or employer. Any incident report, police report or reference number obtained at the time, the hire or booking documents, your travel insurance policy, and the medical records from wherever you were treated. If anything is in a language you do not read, send it anyway.

The two preliminary questions

Which court, and which law

The first is which country's courts may hear the claim. The second is which country's law decides it. They do not always have the same answer, and it is entirely possible for a court in one country to apply the law of another.

Both depend on where the accident happened, where the person you are claiming against is established, and on the arrangement under which you travelled or worked. Neither can be settled from a description of the accident alone, and neither should be assumed from where you happen to live.

They are not academic questions. They determine which time limit you are actually working to, what evidence will be needed and in what form, and whether the claim is one this firm can bring in Cyprus or one that belongs before a court elsewhere. We would tell you which at the start.

Why the time limit is the urgent part

A claim brought in Cyprus for damages for personal injury must generally be brought within three years under the Limitation of Actions Law 66(I)/2012. If the claim belongs elsewhere, or is decided by another country's law, a different period may apply, and it may be shorter than three years. Assuming three years because the accident happened in Cyprus, or because you live here, is the mistake that ends these claims.

Who is answerable

Frequently a company you never dealt with directly

The party responsible for the thing that injured you is often not the party you booked with, and occasionally not a party in the same country.

The hotel, resort or apartment operator, as the business in control of the premises. This is the same question dealt with under accidents in public and private places
An excursion, activity or water sports operator, which is frequently a separate business from the hotel that sold you the ticket
A tour operator or travel organiser, where the arrangement was a package rather than separate bookings
A vehicle hire company, and separately the driver of any other vehicle involved, which is dealt with under road traffic accidents
An employer, where you were posted or working away from home, dealt with under construction and workplace accidents

Whether you booked a package or made separate arrangements is one of the first things to establish, because it can change who is answerable to you and where. Send the booking confirmation as it was issued, not a description of it.

Evidence

Collect it before you fly home

Everything on this list is obtainable in the country where it happened and very difficult to obtain from another one.

The incident report made by the hotel, operator or employer, and a copy of it in your hand before you leave
Photographs of the place and of whatever caused the injury, before it is repaired or cleared
The police report or reference, where the police attended
Names and contact details of witnesses, including their home country, since they are likely to disperse to several
The medical records and receipts from the treatment you received there, in the language they were issued in
The booking confirmation, the hire agreement, the excursion ticket and the terms attached to any of them
Your travel insurance policy, and the record of anything you reported to the insurer or to a representative on the ground
Recorded footage, requested in writing before you leave, because a request made from another country weeks later usually arrives after the system has recorded over it

Report the accident to the hotel, operator or employer while you are still there, and ask for the report in writing. A report made in person and never written down is the most common gap in this category of claim.

Continue treatment when you get home, and keep those records too. The connection between the accident abroad and the treatment afterwards is proved by the two sets of records read together.

Questions we are asked

I was injured in Cyprus but I have gone home. Do I need to come back?

Much of this work is conducted by email and without the client returning to Cyprus. Some steps require a personal attendance and some do not, and a power of attorney drafted here and signed where you live covers a good deal of it. We would tell you at the outset which steps in your matter need you in person. The general position on acting for people who are not in Cyprus is set out under clients abroad.

My travel insurer says it will deal with everything.

An insurer's obligations to you come from the policy, and what the policy covers is not necessarily the same as what a claim against the party responsible would cover. The two can run alongside each other. Send us the policy and whatever the insurer has written to you, and do not sign anything closing a claim until somebody has read it.

I live in Cyprus and was hurt abroad.

Send us the details early, and in particular the date, because the period within which the claim must be brought may be governed by the law of the country where it happened rather than by the three-year period under the Limitation of Actions Law 66(I)/2012. That question is the first one to answer, and it is answered on the facts of your matter.

Everything I have is in Greek, or in a language I cannot read.

Send it anyway. We correspond in English and will tell you what each document says. Documents issued in one country and produced in another commonly need to be legalised and translated, and the order in which that is done matters, so do not arrange translations before asking.

Written on this subject

Personal Injury Claims in Cyprus: Liability, Evidence and Damages

Personal injury

This page sits within Litigation & Debt Recovery. See also clients abroad. Back to personal injury. Στα ελληνικά.

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Tell us briefly how we may assist

A few sentences is enough: where it happened, what happened, and the date. We reply within one business day. Please do not send confidential documents until we confirm we can act.

Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Nicosia. Telephone +357 22 680 330, office@kleanthousplatis.com, or klitos@kleanthousplatis.com.

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