Six-year-old girl being sued in Austria

A six-year-old girl is being sued for more than $38,000 in Austria for allegedly causing a skiing accident which left a woman with serious injuries.

The woman has started legal action against the child, with the Feldkirch Provisional Court considering this week whether someone of this age could be held responsible for causing an accident, the Independent reports cited reports from The Local Austria news paper.

Under Austrian law, a child aged under 14 cannot be held responsible in cases of civil wrongs, such as personal injury accidents.

"First and foremost, supervisors such as the instructors and the parents would be sued for neglecting their supervising responsibilities," according to a court spokeswoman.

The case against the six-year-old was brought after an earlier attempt to sue the adult who had been supervising the girl at the time of the accident was dismissed, according to the Daily Telegraph.

An exception to 14 being the age of legal responsibility in Austria was when a child under this age would have been capable of judging the consequences of their actions.

The court is now considering whether the girl was at fault in this way and can therefore be held legally responsible for the accident.