There is no doubt that a person performing a legally impermissible act or abstaining from an act that is legally required by him, whether by himself or through people or rools over which he has authority, will result in harm to others, for which that person will be responsible for the consequences. This is called ‘civil liability’ in the rules of the Civil Code. This is either a contractual liability arising from a contractual relationship between two or more parties, or a tortious liability resulting from a harmful act that a contractual relationship is not the source of.
Article 199 of the Civil Code provides that “every mistake that causes harm to another requires compensation from the individual who committed it.” On this ground, every person who is harmed by another’s mistake has the right to file a lawsuit before the competent court demanding the person who caused the harm to pay him compensation for the damage caused to him, indemnifying the losses he incurred and the profits he lost. Civil liability, whether its source was an agreement, an unlawful act, or otherwise, is based on three pillars that are linked to it whether in fact or in absence, and they are:
1. Error
This is a breach of a legal, contractual, or natural obligation committed by the person responsible for the damage, while knowing that his behaviour constitutes a deviation from expected behaviour, such as a contractor completing the work assigned to him in a manner contrary to what was agreed upon, the employer refraining from paying the wages of his workers, or a person leaving his car on the public road.
2.Damage
This is the actual harm that befalls a person affecting one of his rights or a legitimate interest of his. It can be material harm that affects the person’s tangible interest, such as a merchant losing a certain deal due to the wholesaler’s failure to deliver the goods on the agreed upon date. Alternatively, it can be moral and ethical, represented by an assault on a non-material aspect of the injured person’s interest, such if a company’s reputation is harmed due to its supplier’s failure to ship the goods on time.
The Court of Cassation in Appeal No. 47 of 2010 – Civil Cassation – Session 04/05/2010 established that the damage that incurs civil liability “must be actual damage, meaning that it indeed occurred or will inevitably occur. As for potential damage that is not certain to occur, compensation is not due unless it actually occurs.”
3.The causal relationship between error and damage
This is the determining criteria for the existence or absence of civil liability, such that the individual is not held responsible unless his error is the cause of the damage, for example if a person falls victim to a traffic accident due to the recklessness and lack of foresight of the driver, or the employer incurring huge financial losses due to the direct negligence of one of his employees.
If the three elements of civil liability are combined, the injured person may resort to the judiciary to claim compensation equating to the value of the damage sustained, provided that he submits to the Court what proves his claims in regard to the error, the damage, and the causal relationship between them. This is in application of the requirements of Article 211 of the Civil and Commercial Procedure Code, which provides that “the creditor must prove the obligation and the debtor must get rid of it.” Furthermore, it implements what the Court of Cassation in Appeal No. 210 of 2013 – Civil Cassation – Session 10/12/2013 established that, finding that “the burden of proving the damage requiring compensation falls on the injured party.”