Third party to a contract victim of the effects of a breach by a party of its contractual obligations

The Plenary Assembly of the Court of Cassation has just confirmed its 2006 case law (AP 13 January 2020, n°17-19.963) by reaffirming the principle according to which a third party to a contract may invoke, on the basis of tort liability, a breach of contract when this breach has caused him damage.

Concretely, this means, as explained by the Court of Cassation (with its new way of drafting and giving reasons for its decisions) that:

20. The breach by a contracting party of a contractual obligation is likely to constitute a wrongful act with regard to a third party to the contract when it causes him damage. 21. It is important not to hinder compensation for this damage. 22. Consequently, a third party to the contract who establishes a causal link between a breach of contract and the damage it suffers is not required to demonstrate a tort or quasi-tort fault distinct from this breach.

Thus, the third party to the contract is not required to characterize the disregard towards him of a general obligation of prudence and diligence, nor of the general duty not to harm others, and he must only prove.

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