Plenary Assembly of the Court of Cassation, May 29, 2026, No. 23-20.005
Were you seriously injured during a supervised activity (swimming at a summer camp, sports outing, training course, treetop adventure course, horseback riding session, etc.) and is the organizer’s insurer using your own negligence to reduce your compensation? A ruling by the Court of Cassation, delivered in plenary session on May 29, 2026, marks a major step forward for victims’ rights.
The case: a plunge with dramatic consequences
On August 4, 2006, during a summer camp organized by an association, a 15-year-old boy was allowed by the counselors supervising him to go swimming. He received no safety instructions, no information about the dangers associated with the shallow water. He ran into the water, dove in, and was left quadriplegic.
Accident during a supervised sporting or leisure activity: your “recklessness” can no longer reduce your compensation if you were not informed or warned about the risks.
The Court of Appeal did indeed uphold the liability of the organizing association. However, it criticized the young man for diving without taking precautions and ruled that his recklessness had contributed to his own injury. Consequently, he was only compensated for 40% of his damages and therefore had to bear the remaining 60% himself. This had been the standard practice until then: the victim’s recklessness allowed the responsible organizer and their insurer to reduce, sometimes significantly, the compensation for their injuries.
What the Court of Cassation decides
The Court of Cassation, sitting in plenary session, overturned this ruling and established a new rule: the professional organizer of a sporting or leisure activity is obligated to provide the necessary safety instructions for the activity, adapted to the participants. In the absence of such instructions, the organizer cannot, in the event of bodily injury suffered by one of the participants, obtain a sharing of liability by invoking the victim’s negligence.
In other words, when a professional fails to provide safety instructions that could have prevented an accident, the victim’s own negligence does not reduce their right to compensation: their bodily injury must be fully compensated. The reasoning is simple and protective: a victim who was not informed of the risks cannot be blamed for not taking precautions. It is the professional’s failure to inform that caused the injury, not the participant’s negligence.
Why this ruling is important for victims
The Court of Cassation expressly recognizes the specific nature of personal injury: harm to the body and health is not a type of injury like any other, and the law must ensure its full compensation, as the Badinter Law of July 5, 1985, already does for traffic accidents. This ruling applies to all sports or leisure activities supervised by a professional: holiday and leisure centers, sports clubs, water sports centers, climbing gyms, equestrian centers, outdoor sports providers, etc.
If you, or your child, were injured during such an activity and the organizer or their insurer cites your “recklessness,” check one essential point: were you actually given appropriate safety instructions? If the answer is no, no sharing of responsibility can be held against you.
Key takeaways
When the professional organizer has failed in their obligation to provide appropriate safety instructions, the imprudence of a victim uninformed of the risks can no longer reduce their compensation.
This new rule applies immediately, including to ongoing cases: do not accept a reduced compensation offer without having it checked.
Pauline Bigot,
Lawyer in Paris & Chartres – Personal Injury & Liability
