Decision ID: 001843

In March 2006 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted that in December 2005 the Civil Court in Saint-Nazaire had rendered a judgement in respect of a claim by the owner of a bar/hotel/restaurant in la Baule-Ecoubliac for losses allegedly suffered as a result of the closure of the business at the end of 2000 due to the incident. It was noted that the Fund had compensated the claimant for loss of income in 2000, but that since the claimant had admitted that the decision to close the business had been made well before the incident, the Fund had argued that there had not been a sufficient link of causation between the alleged loss and the pollution and had therefore rejected the claim. The Committee noted that the Court had held that it should apply Article 1382 of the Civil Code in order to determine whether the claimant had established a sufficient link of causation between the alleged loss and the pollution, but that it did not have enough information to make such a determination, and had therefore appointed a court expert to assess whether the reduction in turnover had made it impossible for the claimant to continue the business and, if so, the amount of the loss.