Finland’s supreme court upholds €2m compensation for woman left disabled after 2013 fall

Finland’s supreme court has ended a decade-long legal battle by upholding a €2 million compensation award to a woman who lost her ability to work after slipping on ice in a student housing complex courtyard in Jyväskylä in 2013, Yle reports.

The ruling confirms earlier decisions by the district and appeals courts, rejecting claims by the Central Finland Student Housing Foundation (KOAS) that the compensation demand had expired. The foundation had argued the case was time-barred under debt limitation laws, but the supreme court found the claim remained valid.

The woman, an accounting student at the time of the accident, suffered injuries that permanently ended her working capacity. Compensation was calculated based on lost earnings for an economist’s expected career trajectory.

Her lawyer, Antti Kuikka, confirmed the ruling brought closure after a prolonged legal process. “The decision was what we hoped for,” Kuikka said. “She is satisfied, as am I.”

The case sets a precedent for how lower courts apply debt limitation laws in future compensation disputes. KOAS and insurer Pohjola Vakuutus had been ordered to pay the sum in 2019, but the foundation appealed, prolonging the dispute until the supreme court’s final decision.