Contractual and tort liability: the limits of the project owner's direct action in tort in the face of contractual prescription?
Published on :
16/01/2025
16
January
Jan
01
2025
While the project owner can sue builders under contract and, in the alternative, other parties in tort, he is prohibited from taking such action if he has allowed the limitation period applicable to contractual action to expire.
In the case brought before the Conseil d'État on 30 December, the Orne Chamber of Agriculture signed a public contract with a company to replace the windows in one of its buildings, which had subcontracted the carpentry to another company. In January 2010, the work was interrupted due to noise pollution caused by the newly installed windows. A bailiff's report in February confirmed these problems. After several years of inactivity, the Chamber of Agriculture appealed to the Caen Administrative Court in 2020 for compensation for various losses.
The Administrative Court of Appeal rejected its claims on the grounds that the contractual liability action against the company was time-barred. It also ruled that the Chamber could no longer take action against the subcontractor on the basis of tort, since it had allowed the limitation period applicable to the contractual action to elapse.
The Conseil d'État confirmed the analysis of the Administrative Court of Appeal, holding that the five-year limitation period had begun to run in February 2010, the date on which the damage was known with certainty. The action brought in 2020 was therefore out of time.
Décision n° 491818 - Conseil d'État
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