Your administrative liability lawyer, in the Var (Toulon, Brignoles, Draguignan)

An administration is liable if it's activity causes damages to others.

In order to get a compensation, three criterias must be met :

An event that triggers the administration's liability (fait générateur de responsabilité) (for example: a fault),

The victim must suffer damages (for example: financial damage, moral damage...),

A causal link between those two (the damage has to be the consequence of the fault).

Administrative liability trigger:

Different liability regimes exist:

1. Fault liability

An administration has to repair the damages cause by its faults.

Any unlawful act committed by an administration constitutes a fault.

2. Liability without fault

An administration can be liable even if it hasn't committed a fault.

Liability without fault encompasses:

Liability for public work or public property (responsabilité pour travaux ou ouvrages publics): when damages are caused by the operations of a public property or a public service, or by public construction works ;

Inequality before public charges (rupture d'égalité devant les charges publiques): when a lawful act causes damages that are both abnormal (severe damages) and special (only a small number of people are affected by it) ;

Defective maintenance of a public property (défaut d'entretien normal d'un ouvrage public): when the user of a defective public property suffers damages, the administration's fault is presumed.

Ground for exemption from liability:

It is important to check, before filing a lawsuit, the absence of an event that can mitigate or nullify the administration's liability:

Force majeure: an unforeseeable, unavoidable and external event ;

The victim's fault ;

When a third party has caused or contributed to the damage (fait du tiers) ;

An administrative agent's personal fault, which makes them personally liable and absolves the administration from its liability.

Compensation:

The reparation of an administration's wrongdoings often takes the form of compensatory damages.

It is mandatory to send the administration a compensation request before submitting a request to the administrative Tribunal (compensation request, summary procedure (requête en référé-provision, en référé-expertise)...).

We represent you mainly in front of the Administrative Tribunal of Toulon (Tribunal administratif de Toulon) and Marseille (Tribunal administratif de Marseille), and also in front of Administrative courts throughout France.

We focus on clients located in the Var (Toulon, Brignoles, Draguignan), but we can also assist clients located in PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur) and in metropolitan France depending on the case.

Do not hesitate to contact us for more information.