Deceased minor driver's parents held responsible for incident

The parents of a youth who died in a traffic accident were ordered to pay damages to the parents of two other youths who also died as passengers in the car their son was driving.

Joseph and Rita Camilleri, parents of the late Maurizio Camilleri, and Carmel and Maria Delmar, parents of the late Alexander Delmar, sued Joseph and Doris Mifsud, the parents of the late Sean Mifsud who was the driver of the car in which the first two youths were when the fatality occurred.

Mr Justice Gino Camilleri, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court, heard that an accident occurred on September 15, 1995 in Mdina Road, Żebbuġ. The accident involved one car, a Toyota Corolla, registered in the name of Joseph Mifsud. The car was being driven by Sean Mifsud, a minor, and the two passengers were Alexander Delmar, another minor, and Carlos Camilleri, then aged 19. All three youths died in the accident.

It resulted that Sean Mifsud was responsible for the accident as he had lost control of the vehicle which he was driving at an excessive speed.

Both Mr and Mrs Camilleri and Mr and Mrs Delmar maintained that Mr and Mrs Mifsud were also responsible for the accident as the car was registered in Mr Mifsud's name. Mr Mifsud and his wife had been bound to ensure that their son did not drive the car while he was underage and so did not have a driving licence.

Mr Justice Camillleri said it resulted that Mr and Mrs Mifsud were aware that their son was driving but they had not taken all precautions to stop him from doing so. As a result, they were held to be responsible towards the other parents in damages.

When liquidating the damages, the court ordered Mr and Mrs Mifsud to pay €94,500 to the Delmars and €72,900 to the Camilleris.