An Appeals Court in Civil and Commercial Matters has unanimously upheld a ruling that orders the Paraguayan state to pay a multi-million compensation for the death of a young soccer player. The accident, which occurred in October 2019, was caused by a large pothole on the Ruta Acceso Sur.
The court upheld the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) for the road's state of repair. The ruling orders a payment of 900 million guaranis to the teenager's parents, Francisco Javier Yegros León and Amelia Riveros Benítez. With interest accrued since the date of the incident, the total amount exceeds 2,000 million guaranis.
The tragedy happened at kilometer 27.5 of the highway in Itá, when a large truck hit a deep pothole in the asphalt. The impact caused one of the vehicle's front wheels to detach, making the driver lose control, cross into the oncoming lane, and collide head-on with the car carrying 14-year-old Javier Alexander Yegros Riveros, a youth player for Club Olimpia. The young man died days later. In the same accident, Andrés Reyes Ruiz, the driver of one of the vehicles, also died, and three other youths were injured.
Magistrates Osvaldo González, Hugo Garcete, and Carlos Escobar rejected the arguments of the Attorney General's Office, which had attempted to place the blame solely on the truck driver. The court considered that the road was in "deplorable condition," with the pavement showing signs of "crocodile cracking" and having exceeded its useful life, constituting a known danger that the public agency had failed to remedy.
Compensation was set at 860 million guaranis for moral damages and 40 million for consequential damages, covering medical and funeral expenses. The claim for "loss of chance" compensation, referring to a supposed promising soccer career, was rejected due to a lack of concrete evidence regarding potential earnings.