Decision ID: 001988

In March 2007 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee recalled that an insurer had made a subrogated claim in respect of a claim it had paid to a group of hotels in La Baule for losses incurred as a result of the cancellation of a major Millennium party which was to have taken place on the beach. It was recalled that the 1992 Fund had rejected the claim on the grounds that the claimant had not submitted sufficient information to enable the Fund to assess the losses and the insurer had not taken into account the income received by the hotels during the Millennium festivities, which should have been deducted from the losses due to the cancellation of the event. It was recalled that in a judgement rendered in December 2004 the Court of first instance had estimated the income over the period of the Millennium festivities and had ordered the shipowner/insurer and the 1992 Fund to pay the balance to the insurer, but that the Fund had appealed against the judgement. The Committee noted that in a judgement issued in November 2006 the Court of Appeal in Rennes had stated that it was not bound by the Funds’ admissibility criteria but that they could be useful point of reference for national courts. It was noted that, in the Court of Appeal’s view, the decision to cancel the party had been due to a storm and not the pollution and that there was therefore no link of causation between the cancellation and the incident. It was noted that the Court had overturned the judgement by the Court of first instance and rejected the claim and that the claimant had appealed against the judgement before the Court of Cassation.