Decision ID: 001699

In February 2004 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted that in December 2003 the Commercial Court in Lorient had rendered a judgement in respect of a claim for loss of income by a claimant who sold and rented out machines for the production of ice cream. It was noted that the Fund had rejected the claim on the grounds that it was a second degree (indirect) loss. It was noted that the Court had stated that it was not bound by the Fund’s admissibility criteria and that under French law a claim was admissible if the loss was direct and certain, provided there was a sufficient link of causation between the event and the damage. The Committee noted that the Court had considered that for claimants in this category there could exist damage caused by a ‘domino effect’, since it was clear that businesses directly affected by a decrease in tourism reduced their normal investments and purchases, and that it was possible that the claimant’s customers in the affected area had postponed or cancelled their orders for machines, resulting in the claimant suffering a loss which had a direct link of causation between the incident and the damage. It was noted, however, that the Court had considered that the reduction in turnover of sales or rental of machines had not been shown and had therefore appointed an expert to establish whether, and if so to what extent, the reduction in turnover resulted from a decrease in orders for such machines relating to the affected area. The Executive Committee decided that, in view of the importance of the issue for the proper functioning of the compensation regime based on 1992 Conventions, the Fund should pursue an appeal against the judgement.

Date: 01.02.2004
Category: Pure economic loss (tourism)
Subject: Admissibility criteria