Decision ID: 003529

In October 2008 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted that in May 2008 the Court of Cassation had rendered a judgement concerning a subrogated claim by an insurer 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 that 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 Commercial Court in Saint-Nazaire 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 also recalled 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. It was also noted that the claimant had lodged an appeal before the Court of Cassation. The Executive Committee noted that the Court of Cassation had rejected the appeal. It was noted that the Court of Cassation had agreed with the reasons given by the Court of Appeal and concluded that the cancellation of the millenium party was due to the irreparable material damage caused by the storm that occurred on 26 and 27 December 1999 and that there was no link of causation between this cancellation and the pollution caused by the Erika incident.

Date: 30.09.2008
Categories: Legal actions, Pure economic loss (tourism)
Subjects: Judgements in respect of claims for pure economic loss, Link of causation between the loss and the contamination, Losses suffered by hotels, campsites, shops, restaurants and other tourism businesses due to a downturn in visitors