Liability law

If someone suffers damage, sometimes someone else is responsible. Liability concerns the question of whether a duty to compensate has been formed and, if this is the case, on whom and for which amount.

Duty to compensate

The question whether there is liability and whether a duty to compensate exists, is for instance relevant relevant in the following cases:

• When something has went wrong while carrying out work;
• When the obligations of a contract have not been carried out;
• When a collision has been caused;
• When an accident took place in the workplace;
• When a product does not function (properly);
• When an invoice has not been paid in time.

Strict liability

A big misunderstanding is that there can only be a duty to compensate in cases of guilt or culpability. A (legal) person can have a duty to compensate on grounds of a role, status or quality. This is called strict liability. You could think of parents (who are responsible for the acts of their children under 14 years old), employers (responsible for acts of employees in the execution of their job), but also animal owners (who are responsible for damage caused by the animal). Corporations can (try to) reduce their responsibility by optimising their professional agreements. Corporations can avoid many problems with a good (or better) exoneration clause (guilt exclusion clause) in their contracts and/or general terms for example.

Liability law attorneys

Our attorneys represent both victims (those who have suffered damage) and those presumed to be (potentially) responsible for the damage. In both cases we establish whether the shortcoming can be qualified as non-performance or a wrongful act and if so, what the consequences can be. Based on this we advise, mediate, negotiate and litigate. We work for all sorts of parties: employers, employees, producers, buyers, independent professionals, importers and private individuals.

Specialised knowledge

Our attorneys our experts in the complex field of liability law, where civil, criminal and administrative law are intertwined. We have specialized knowledge of insurance law, liability law in damage and accountability of board members or advisors. One of the complicating factors in liability law is the performance of insurers, which ‘want to limit the damage as much as possible’. Because of our extensive experience in the practice of insurance law, we know how we can convince insurers to respect obligations from the insurance agreement after all. This enables us to properly analyse your positions and your rights.

You can approach us for matters in the field of:

• Criminal liability
• Director’s liability
• Professional liability
• Product liability
• Employer’s liability
• Occupational accident
• Traffic accident
• Material damage
• Personal injury
• Damages in case of death
• Income damage

In short, for all aspects in the field of liability law, we are your partner. Do you want to know what we can mean for you? Then contact us.