Repeated bronchiolitis, asthma attacks or ear infections… If these ailments punctuate the daily lives of many parents, the administrative court of Paris condemned Friday, June 16, for the first time, the State to compensate two families whose children were very regularly sick. The judges considered that these respiratory infections could have been avoided, or at least limited, if the pollution peaks had been better regulated. In these cases, the families lived near the ring road and ended up moving on the advice of doctors. “This decision is a first in France and, to our knowledge, in Europe”, breathes Me Hermine Baron, who defended them with Me François Lafforgue.
On several occasions already, courts had recognized a failure of the State in the fight against air pollution. In a decision of 2019, for example, the administrative court of Montreuil, seized by a mother and her daughter suffering from respiratory problems, had considered that the “plan relating to the quality of the air in Ile-de-France” was insufficient. . On the other hand, this is the first time that this “culpable deficiency” has given rise to compensation: until now, the “direct and certain” causal link had never been established. “In these two cases, expert reports have pointed out that the respiratory illnesses of these children coincided with a peak in pollution”, specifies Me Hermine Baron. The complainants lived 500 and 700 meters from the Paris ring road. Moreover, in both cases, the families ended up moving and the health of their children improved rapidly.
“Getting victims to initiate proceedings”
Can this decision – admittedly subject to appeal within two months – have an impact on future cases? In Paris, some 550,000 people live near the ring road*. At present, Me Hermine Baron’s office has “a few dozen” procedures of this type. “But it concerns all of France, not just Paris. “One of the most media is that of the valley of the Arve, in Haute-Savoie. In this narrow valley between France and Italy, trucks pass by, regularly increasing CO2 levels. A first complaint bringing together some 570 families had been dismissed in March 2020, a second was deemed admissible and is still in progress. “We hope that this recognition of the responsibility of the State will make it possible to facilitate other actions, and even push victims to initiate proceedings”, insists Tony Renucci, the director of the Respire association, which fights for the improvement in air quality.
“This precedent opens a breach, it is obvious, abounds Hermine Baron. But it’s not a Pandora’s box, all folders are different. Both recognize that the procedure is an obstacle course. The two families they accompanied fought for six years. Even if the consequences of air quality on otitis or bronchiolitis are abundantly documented, it is necessary to demonstrate, as we have said, the “direct and certain” causal link between the management of the state of the peaks of pollution and the health of these children. However, these diseases are multi-functional. In these two cases, the court noted that the parents were non-smokers – passive smoking being a risk factor -, their apartments did not contain elements favoring asthma, the tests did not reveal any allergies. Above all, in both cases, “a marked improvement” in the state of health was observed after the move. “No episode of wheezing respiratory discomfort was then recorded, and the background treatment could be abandoned”, write the magistrates.
“Derisory” compensation
But are these procedures worth it in terms of compensation? 2,000 euros for one family, 3,000 euros for the other. Far from the amount requested: 220,000 euros in each case. The compensation covers only the physical suffering of the children: their moral damage, as well as that of the rest of the family, the medical expenses, the consequences on the professional life of the parents were not retained by the judges. In the eyes of their lawyer, this is explained above all by the fact that the health of the children was not permanently affected and improved after the move.
Tony Renucci cannot hide his disappointment. “These are derisory sums, which are not up to what the families have experienced. Despite this first victory, the director of Respire believes that the revolution could come from the revision of the European directive on air quality: in a first version, one of the articles would promote group actions.
* Figures from APUR (Parisian urban planning workshop)