Who is responsible if Christmas candles catch a guest’s skirt on fire?

2023-12-25 05:00:08

Lhe hostess of a party who lets her guests place lit candles on the floor cannot claim that she is not responsible for the accident caused by one of them. It took six years of trial for justice to reach this common-sense conclusion in the following case.

On December 27, 2014, M^me X, Alex Reed at M^me Y to celebrate Christmas there, came out seriously burned: the clothes she was wearing caught fire on contact with candles placed ” on the ground ” or “on a coffee table”according to the discordant attestations of other guests.

In November 2017, M^me X assigns M^me Y and his insurer, Avanssur, so that they cover his entire loss, which will amount to more than 200,000 euros. M^me Y refuses to recognize any responsibility for the accident, on the grounds that it would not be she who would have “in charge of decoration” : she would not have “neither brought nor lit the candles”. As the certificates do not allow us to know the identity of the people who did it, she wins her case at first instance.

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The appeal magistrates consider, however, the December 9, 2020that as “guardian” candles she is presumed responsible for the damage caused by them. Article 1384 of the civil code in fact establishes a presumption of responsibility once morest someone who has something in their custody ” moving “, having caused damage. Unlike the judges of first instance, those of appeal consider that the candle is not a thing « inert » since“a flame emanates from it which can flicker”.

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But the Court of Cassation ruled them wrong, June 16, 2022 (21-11.960), on the grounds that they did not check whether M^me Y “was the guardian” candles, and that’s only 13 avril 2023 that the responsibility of M^me Is recognized there. The Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal judges that “even if she had entrusted other people with ensuring the decoration (…) it was up to him to ensure the safety of the guests.”

Indeed, a candle, whose flame “may waver”, East “source of danger”especially if it is placed “at clothing height”. Leaving several candles lit, “without a device protecting the flame, whether on the floor or on a coffee table, in any case (…) within reach of contact with the guests’ clothing, M^me There was carelessness which caused the disaster, since M’s clothing^me X caught fire.”

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And to drive the point home: by not having not “considered it useful to extinguish these candles which were a source of danger”, by having “abstained, where she should, in her capacity as a normally prudent and wise hostess, have reacted”, she has “committed a reckless and negligent act which gives rise to civil liability”.

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