State Liability Claims in Spain: Requirements, the 1-Year Deadline and How to Claim Compensation (2026)
A complete guide to claiming compensation from a Spanish public authority: the requirements of Articles 32 to 37 of Law 40/2015, the one-year time limit, causation, unlawfulness of the damage, the six-month decision period, negative silence and how compensation is calculated. With real examples.
1. What a state liability claim is
A state liability claim (*reclamación patrimonial*) is the administrative procedure through which an individual asks a Spanish public authority to compensate damage caused by the operation of a public service.
Its legal basis is Article 106.2 of the Spanish Constitution, developed in Articles 32 to 37 of Law 40/2015 on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector (substantive rules) and in Law 39/2015 (procedure).
The key point, and the one that surprises most first-time claimants, is that this is a strict (no-fault) liability system: you do not need to prove that a civil servant was negligent or that a rule was broken. It is enough to establish that there is actual damage, that it results from the operation of the public service, and that the citizen had no legal duty to bear it.
At [Bufete Padilla](https://bufetepadillatorrevieja.com/en/contact) we handle claims against town halls, the Valencian regional government, the public health service and the State from Torrevieja, Elche and Moraira, for a largely international client base across the Costa Blanca.
2. Normal or abnormal operation: the crucial distinction
Article 32.1 of Law 40/2015 refers to damage caused by the "normal or abnormal" operation of public services.
- Abnormal operation: the service fails. An unmarked pothole, a broken pavement, a misdiagnosis, a lost file.
- Normal operation: the service acts correctly and damage still occurs — damage singled out on one person who should not bear it alone.
This breadth is what separates the Spanish system from classic civil liability: fault is not judged; the harmful outcome and its attribution are.
3. The four requirements that decide every case
| Requirement | What must be proved |
|---|---|
| Actual damage | Real and already sustained, not hypothetical or speculative. |
| Economically assessable | Quantifiable in euros: costs, loss of earnings, permanent injury, moral damage. |
| Individualised | Affecting a specific person or group, not a general inconvenience to the public. |
| Causation + unlawfulness | A direct link between the public service and the damage, and no legal duty to bear it. |