A carrier’s inexcusable fault can have significant financial consequences, as it may deprive the carrier of certain limits on compensation.
The threshold for inexcusable fault under French law
The threshold nevertheless remains particularly high.
Article L. 133-8 of the French Commercial Code defines inexcusable fault as a deliberate fault involving “awareness of the probability of damage and reckless acceptance of it without valid reason”.
In a judgment of 22 October 2025, the French Court of Cassation considered a second theft of goods from premises that had already been burgled the previous week.
The damaged fence had not been repaired and no additional protective measures had been introduced. The Court of Appeal had found that these circumstances established inexcusable fault by the carrier.
What the circumstances can establish
The French Court of Cassation overturned that assessment.
It held that those factors were insufficient to establish a deliberate fault involving awareness of the probability of damage and reckless acceptance of it without valid reason. In particular, inexcusable fault cannot arise solely from a combination of serious acts of negligence.
The distinction is essential: inadequate security arrangements may give rise to carrier liability without being sufficient to establish inexcusable fault.
In theft cases, the assessment must therefore go beyond the seriousness of the negligence and examine precisely what the carrier knew about the risk and the conduct it nevertheless chose to adopt.
Did the carrier merely fail to anticipate the risk, or consciously accept it despite its probability?
If your matter concerns liability following cargo theft, contact the firm, which will get back to you to discuss your situation.