Decision ID: 003516

In June 2008 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted that in April 2008 the Commercial Court in Lorient had rendered a judgement in respect of a claim by a hotel-restaurant for economic losses and for moral damages and damage to its image. It was noted that the claim had been rejected by the 1992 Fund on the grounds that the claimant had not proved the quantum of his loss and that, in any event, the moral and image damages were not admissible under the 1992 Fund’s admissibility criteria. It was also noted that the Court had stated that it was not bound by the 1992 Fund’s criteria for admissibilty and that it was for the Court to interpret the concept of ‘pollution damage’ and to apply it to the individual claim by determining whether there was a sufficiently close link of causation between the events that lead to the damage (‘le fait générateur’) and the losses suffered. The Committee noted that the Court had found that the claimant had suffered economic losses which had been assessed by the Court at an amount considerably lower than that claimed, but had rejected the claim for moral and image damages. It was noted that the Director, bearing in mind that the Court had rejected the items which were not admissible under the Fund’s criteria and that there was not a question of principle involved as regards the item accepted by the Court, considered the Court’s assessment in respect of that item not unreasonable and took the view that the Fund should not appeal against the judgement.