Los fondos de indemnización de daños corporales

This paper examines the scope and main features of the personal injury compensation funds existing in Spain. These funds aim at ensuring that victims of certain harmful events obtain full or partial compensation of their injuries regardless of the attribution of liability to any third party. The paper engages with the essential elements of these funds. Firstly, the funds are an alternative to tort liability. Secondly, victims are granted compensation unconditionally, provided that the harm occurred within the context defined by the rules creating the fund. Finally, the fund seeks full compensation for the victim's injury, and administrative bodies typically decide on deserving petitions under judicial supervision. After analysing the practical outcome of these features, the paper raises several fundamental questions related to the foundation of compensation funds: what justifies their establishment, how are they financed and to what extent they purport unequal treatment of some victims. As an example, it studies the recent proposal for a law to create a compensation fund for asbestos victims in Spain. The paper ends with a critical assessment about whether the existing compensation funds fulfil their function or not