/ INSURANCE NEWS / THE EXCLUSION CLAUSE MUST NOT EMPTY THE GUARANTEE OF ALL THE SUBSTANCE

THE EXCLUSION CLAUSE MUST NOT EMPTY THE GUARANTEE OF ALL THE SUBSTANCE

Court of Cassation, Civil Chamber 3, 24 March 2015, 13-25. 737 :

“The clause excluding” damage resulting from the conscious, deliberate or inexcusable failure to comply with the rules of applicable in the building and civil engineering sector to the activities guaranteed, such as these rules are defined by the technical documents of the competent technical bodies of an official nature and especially the unified technical documents (DTU) published by the Scientific and Technical Center of the building or by the French standards approved disseminated by the French Association of Standardization or, failing that, by the profession, or, where such non-compliance is attributable to the insured… ” is sufficiently formal and limited in that it does not empty the contract of any substance”

In this judgment, the police would refer to the precise technical specifications allowing the exclusion clause to escape the censure of the Court of Cassation.