Kiss Nightclub Case - How much is a life worth?
Hello!
We are here for another #MondayBlog and our topic of the week is very interesting. We are going to talk about the value of a life from the point of view of insurance linked to the Brazilian legal system using a real example.
In cases of fatal damages, with Civil Liability coverage, the judge is left with the difficult task of pricing something that is actually priceless.
The truth is that there is no amount in this world that can compensate for the loss of a loved one, compensation mitigates financial losses resulting from the absence of the loved one.
And, this money is also a way of punishing the person responsible for the damage, or would it be better to say the irresponsible?
If there is insurance coverage for the situation, then it is a responsible person who must be held accountable. Now if it was a deliberate act plus negligence, a more severe punishment is in order.
The topic is interesting but sad. And, we hope that at the end of this post, you will be able to recognize how the Brazilian insurance market behaves in the face of loss of life.
First the covers, then the case
Before we analyze our real case, let's talk about the actionable coverage in case of death in audiovisual and event insurance, which are our specialty.
Basically in these products there are two lines that have actionable coverage, these lines are Life and Civil Liability.
In the case of the Life branch, the coverage sold would be Personal Accidents for Accidental Death for both products, and Death in Any Cause, exclusively for audiovisual insurance, provided that PA SINDICINE is contracted. The procedure in case of indemnity in PA coverage tends to be faster and simpler.
Civil Liability coverage, on the other hand, tends to take longer to be indemnified, since it is usually paid in the form of reimbursement to the insured, after he has made the payment of the amount determined by the judge. As you may already know, this coverage to be triggered first needs a legal process.
Nightclub KISS
Last December, the trial of the defendants of one of the greatest tragedies in Brazil took place. The four defendants were convicted, the two partners received the longest sentences, 22 years for Elissandro Spohr and 19 years for Mauro Hoffmann, based on the fact that they were operating the nightclub with an expired license, having used inappropriate material to insulate the location and not being at all prepared for a fire situation, which was fatally demonstrated with the absence of emergency exits and non-functioning fire extinguishers.
Marcelo de Jesus, lead singer of the band and Luciano Bonilha, assistant to the band, were sentenced to 18 years in prison. They used outdoor fireworks in an enclosed space, and after noticing the fire and failing to put the fire out, they fled the scene without warning the public of the danger, even though they had access to the local sound system.
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The state of the city of Santa Maria can be considered another culprit in this story, as it allowed the nightclub to operate without being regular, which is called subjective civil liability, due to its omission in the face of a potentially dangerous situation for the public that frequented the club. place.
On January 27th of this year, the Kiss Nightclub tragedy turns nine, and both the survivors and the relatives of the victims who died that day, waited a long time to see justice done.
If you don't remember exactly what happened, in 2013, KISS caught fire after the band Gurizada Fandangueira fired fireworks that hit the ceiling of the place with inadequate bedding, and the combination of irresponsible actions resulted in the death of 242 people and left 636 injured.
Every Day the Same Night
Netflix announced that later this year it will launch a series called “Todo Dia a Mesma Noite (Every day the same night)” based on the book of the same title, in which the author collected more than 100 testimonies from the victims of that night, among relatives who lost loved ones and survivors who had to learn to continue living after emotional trauma and, in some cases, permanent bodily harm.
We believe that part of the audiovisual role is to tell these stories, so that people can see that irresponsible acts can have consequences and cause the death of people, in addition to a lot, a lot of pain.
Indemnities
We went back to find out how the compensation process was for the families and survivors, and remember that we said that civil liability processes are slow and bureaucratic? Well, the news tells us of requests and more requests for compensation due to moral and material damages and requests for alimony.
However, even when there is a win, there is still the possibility of the defendant to appeal and for this reason, we do not know if anyone has actually been compensated or not so far.
Some people judge families who claim compensation and think they're just after the money, and that's not true.
One of the parents who lost their 18-year-old daughter said in an interview: “What I want is justice. And one of the ways is for those responsible to pay, literally, for what they did. Among those responsible, the public power, which failed to supervise.”
The lawsuits were directed to the State, the City, the Kiss nightclub and its partners, the band and its members.
Some families obtained positive verdicts, such as in the case of a family from Augusto Pestana, a city in the missionary region. In which a total compensation of 200 thousand reais was determined by the State Court of Justice (TJ), which sentenced the Santa Maria city hall. However, the compensation itself had not been paid until 2019.
Another case was the compensation of 187 thousand reais to be paid to the widow and daughter of an employee of the Kiss nightclub killed in the fire.
What if the insurance was bought with Prospecto?
Let's say we were the broker and the club owners had taken out event insurance for this band's show.
Right from the start, the insurance would not have coverage, because one of the bases for accepting the risk and the right to compensation is the location of the event to have all the licenses up to date. Which was not the case.
The Liability coverage is out of the question, but the PA for accidental death could be compensated. PA coverage for death has different values, depending on where the insurance is purchased, but in general, the values can be from at least 5 thousand reais to 200 thousand reais in compensation in case of death per person in the event. Of course, for that, the public value has to be accurately informed, because we would have the activation of all the usual coverages in different circumstances in a situation similar to what happened.
We have accidental death that we've already talked about, but we also have hospital medical expenses, and total and permanent disability.
How much is a life worth?
That's the question and title of our post. And the answer is that lives are too precious to be priced.
However, both insurers and judges tend to be forced to measure the immeasurable. And through that bring some breath to those left behind.
So, when determining the amount of PA needed to cover your event, for example, think about your spectator audience and how productive they are while they are alive and in the lifetime they may still have.
In the case of the Kiss nightclub, most of the victims were young and college students. So what happens is a calculation of life expectancy together with the expected salary for that person once they graduate, multiplied by the years they would be in the workforce.
This is how you arrive at a rational pricing calculation, people in insurance and justice have value when they can be useful to society, with their presence.
But no one ever forgets that, as much as it is possible to place a remuneration value on the person who died, this stipulated value will never do justice to the true value of this human being who has passed away.
Remember to consider the lives of those who work with you, whether at an event or an audiovisual project. Be human and responsible, hire good insurance.
We look forward to seeing you for our next #MondayBlog.
Have a great week, lovers!
Prospecto Seguros
LEGAL NOTICE
This post was created through research on sites, under the "Fair Use" copyright law, as the research materials fall under public knowledge.
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