This page has been automatically translated. Please refer to the page in French if needed.
Domestic accident
The recklessness of the victim does not exclude the responsibility of the owner of a dwelling
Publié le null - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
The owner of an apartment, a person who fell from a window without a railing, can be held responsible, even though the victim committed a reckless mistake. This was considered by the Court of Cassation in a judgment of the Second Civil Chamber on 7 April 2022.
A person, drunk and under the influence of drugs, sits on the edge of a window of an apartment located at 5e floor of a building, for smoking a cigarette. She dies by swinging in a vacuum. The victim's family and their insurer then take the owner of the apartment to court to compensate for the damage suffered.
After being rejected at first instance, the Court of Appeal upheld that judgment on the ground that .
Indeed, considering that the victim had been particularly reckless, for having sat under the influence of alcohol and narcotics on a window sill located at 5e floor and without railing, without making sure that there was no risk of falling. The Court of Appeal concluded that recklessness was the only cause of the damage.
The applicants (family of the victim and their insurer) then decide to go before the Court of Cassation which quashes and quashes the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
After observing that the presence of a railing on a window situated at 5e floor located 42 cm from the floor of the apartment would necessarily have prevented the fall, the Court of Cassation concludes that the recklessness of the victim could not be the sole cause of the damage.
Additional topics
Service-Public.fr
Agenda
Apprentissage
Jusqu'au 17 mai 2024
Publié le 03 mai 2024
Impôts
À partir du 11 avr. 2024
Publié le 11 avril 2024
Prévention Covid-19
À partir du 15 avr. 2024
Publié le 18 mars 2024
Calendrier scolaire
Du 6 avr. au 12 mai 2024
Publié le 15 mars 2024