Between sailors, the rules of responsibility are specific and the owner of a ship bears in particular the damage that a neighboring ship in the port may have caused him by chance, the Court of Cassation stressed.
The rule of the responsibility of the guardian or the owner is excluded in the matter, recalled the Court. The owner of a recreational boat, damaged by the blows of his neighbor in the port on a windy day, must therefore assume his own damages and repairs.
Know if there is fault or not
In the case of collision, collision between ships or collision with any floating device not permanently moored to a fixed position, the only question, according to the judges, is whether or not the author of the damage was at fault. In case of fault, the rules of civil liability apply and the offender assumes the damage he has caused. But in case of fortuitous impact, or in doubt about the causes of the impact, each one bears his damage, whether or not the ships are anchored.
The classic rule that holds the guardian of the object responsible for the crash, even without fault on his part, is excluded both at sea and in the port, the judges explained.
(Cass. Com, 12.14.2022, D 21-16.785).
Source: BFM TV
