Decision ID: 003705

In June 2010 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted a judgement rendered in October 2009 by the Court of Appeal in Rennes in respect of a claim by a company selling, hiring and repairing boats and accessories for losses suffered as a result of the Erika incident. It was recalled that the 1992 Fund had assessed and settled the part of the claim relating to the sale of accessories. It was also recalled that as regards the part of the claim relating to the sale of boats the Fund had considered that the purchase of boats was a long term investment and that it was unlikely to be permanently affected by the consequences of an oil spill since at most the decision to purchase a boat might be postponed and had rejected that part of the claim on the grounds that it had not been proved that there was a sufficiently close link of causation between this loss and the contamination caused by the Erika incident. The Committee recalled that the Commercial Court in Saint Nazaire had appointed a court expert to assess the loss related to the sale of new boats and that the expert had assessed the loss at €42 504. It was recalled that in a judgement rendered in May 2008 the Commercial Court had accepted the assessment made by the court expert and awarded the claimant the assessed amount. It was also recalled that the Court had appointed the same expert to assess the other items claimed, such as the losses relating to the sale of second hand boats, trailers and electronic material. It was further recalled that the 1992 Fund had appealed against the judgement, since the Director had considered the method of calculation and the conclusions reached by the expert questionable. The Executive Committee noted that in its judgement the Court of Appeal had considered that the claimant had not suffered losses in respect of the sale of new boats nor in respect of the other items claimed and for that reason had rejected the claims.