The person who suffers damage may demand full compensation from only one of the parties, including if the fault of the latter is not very significant.
The Court of Cassation ruled in this way in a lawsuit which pitted consumers against a heating contractor with whom they were unhappy.
After the commissioning of a new installation of heating and hot water production for the house, customers had taken legal action complaining of being poorly heated and of not having hot water.
The installation itself does not present any fault, but the breakdowns are caused by the poor work of the wood pellet delivery man, concluded an expert. The pellets are damaged by poor handling during loading and delivery, observed the expert, which creates fine particles that clog the system. For the expert, the heating contractor should have drawn the attention of his customers to this risk so that they could ensure the correct delivery conditions. The liability of the heating engineer was then limited by a court of appeal. After assessment of the damage, this professional was only ordered to pay 10%.
However, observed the Court of Cassation, seized by the owners, since this professional owed a perfect execution of his service, which was not the case, and that he contributed, even weakly, to the realization of the damage, his clients could claim full compensation from him. Because the one who has an obligation can be condemned to pay the entire damage if he does not execute it completely and does not justify having been prevented from doing so by an event of force majeure, external, unforeseeable and irresistible.
(Cass. Civil 1, 5.7.2023, B 22-17.109).
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