TCA dismisses lawsuit against the Mayoralty, demanding to adapt public transport for invalids

On April 18, the Tbilisi Court of Appeal (TCA) considered the complaint against the court's decision on the claim of Category II invalid Koba Nadiradze, demanding to adapt public transport in the capital of Georgia for disabled people. As reported by Nikoloz Legashvili, who was Nadiradze's advocate, the court dismissed the appeal.

Let us remind you that on February 12, the Tbilisi City Court rejected the lawsuit lodged by Koba Nadiradze, the representative of the NGO "Youth Centre - for independent life", against the city authorities, citing the fact that the Mayoralty had plans to adapt the transport and buildings for people with disabilities.

This decision was appealed against to the TCA, which upheld the ruling of the City Court.

"The TCA has failed to take into account our demands that all the municipal transport must be adapted for persons with disabilities on the basis of the fact that the city Mayoralty has written in its plans that in the future they should adapt the transport. But you understand that nobody knows when this will be done," the lawyer Nikoloz Legashvili told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He added that he believes that the TCA's ruling was unfair; however, appealing is no longer possible, as it is the last instance. Now, the only thing that the claimant can do is to appeal against the volume of compensation.

"When we receive a written decision of the TCA, then, within 21 days we'll appeal against it at the Supreme Court of Georgia in the part of the monetary compensation, an approximate amount of which is 6000 laris (about 3500 US dollars). And I'm going to write complaints to the Tbilisi Mayoralty; let them then deal with the matter," added Legashvili.

Let us note here that the incident, which gave rise to the lawsuit, occurred in 2009 in Tbilisi. Then, Nadiradze was stopped by road patrol and checked on the Alcotest, which showed different degrees of intoxication, including his sobriety. The invalid suggested that the device was inoperative; however, policemen gave him a fine. Nadiradze asked them to give him a lift to the examination centre, where he could prove that he was not under the influence of alcohol; however, they refused, and he could not get there by himself.

In this context, Nadiradze filed a suit to the Tbilisi City Court against the City Mayoralty to demand compensation for material damage and to "adapt finally the public transport and buildings for people with disabilities." The lawsuit also mentioned his discrimination by the police patrol. The Tbilisi City Court has split the lawsuit into two separate ones.