(29 January 2026 | Source: TV channel «Astana TV»)
A resident of Kostanay, Irina Karpenko, has been awarded 2 million tenge in compensation by the Court of Appeal for damage to her car caused by the fall of an old tree in the courtyard of a residential building. The court of first instance had previously rejected the claim.
THE ESSENCE OF THE CASE
According to information from the TV channel «Astana TV», last summer an old poplar tree collapsed onto Irina Karpenko's car in the courtyard of a house on Kochubey Street. The car sustained significant mechanical damage.
Irina Karpenko is a volunteer and head of the search and rescue team «Region 10», and she used the car for missions to search for missing people. She filed a lawsuit against the city mayor's office seeking compensation for the damage.
“This is my personal vehicle, which we used many times for the search team. The car was there at the very beginning of the search unit’s work; we did a lot of good deeds with it. This is my material loss. If there is a law, it must be observed for everyone. And according to the law, we were in the right here. We lost the first court case; of course, it was very disappointing, but we carried on and appealed to the court of appeal”, — Irina Karpenko, resident of Kostanay.
THE COURT'S DECISION
The Court of Appeal established that the tree was on the balance sheet of the Housing and Public Utilities Department, which failed to ensure proper maintenance of the green spaces. The court noted that residents had repeatedly submitted requests for the felling of hazardous trees, but no action was taken. The decision of the court of first instance was overturned.
“The court established that requests for the felling of dangerous trees had been sent to the state authority. However, no measures were taken. In connection with this, the appeal panel concluded that the damage to the plaintiff was caused through the fault of the defendant”, — Lyazzat Baigozhina, press secretary of the Kostanay Regional Court.
CONTEXT
This case highlights the problem of tree maintenance in city courtyards and the need to respond to citizens' requests regarding potentially dangerous plantings. The case demonstrates that courts of appeal can overturn first-instance decisions when negligence on the part of state authorities is proven.