The victims of the mudslide will start compensation lawsuits against the company that operates the Recki mine in November.

In November, the law firm representing the victims of the Recki mudslide will launch the first compensation lawsuit against the company that operates the mine, Szabad Európa wrote.

The flooded houses of Hunyadi út in Recsk and the andesite mine towering above them

Photo: Dániel Németh/444

One of the owners of Andezit-Bau Zrt., a close friend of Lajos Kósa Kósa from Fidesz, lawyer István Fiák, who also provides legal representation for the mine, wrote in his reply letter: “Given that the letter you sent does not confirm the occurrence of any damage, I dispute that any damage occurred in the area indicated by you and your respected customers. I also specifically dispute your statement that my client is responsible for the resulting mudslide and mudslide, as it was a force majeure event, i.e. an unavoidable natural event, therefore no single person or organization can be held responsible for the occurrence of the mudslide and the flash flood that caused the mudslide.

According to him, the responsibility of the mine cannot be established in the absence of unproven damage and the absence of any contribution from its client. He wrote, expressing his sympathy for the current situation of those affected, and asking the law firm representing the victims to itemize the specific damages that can be provably attributed to the mine, and to attach the supporting evidence, as well as the occupancy permit of the affected houses.

“You will get to know the requested data in court, we completed it out of court. With such an attitude, you can ask us anything, we can only send similar good wishes and wish you a happy new year. They promised that if the mine’s responsibility was proven, they would sit down to negotiate, but now they have rejected the out-of-court settlement,” György Magyar, head of the law firm representing the victims, told the newspaper.

After the authority imposed a fine of only 3 million on the mining company, whose earthen ramparts erected over residential buildings flooded the houses on Recski Hunyadi út with mud in June, the conversational Bence Tordai presented in October the irregularities found by the mining authority.