Compensation
To organise rapid payment of compensation for the victims, their families and the inhabitants affected by the disaster, Grande Paroisse set up a large-scale system. In just one year after the event, 92% of the material claims and 75% of compensation claims were settled.
Rapid, fair, amicable compensation: more than 2 billion euros paid out
On 3 October 2001, the National Disaster Victim Compensation Committee (CNSV) was set up under the aegis of the French Ministry of Justice. In addition to the Group, the committee comprised public authorities, elected officials and disaster-victim associations.
Within the scope of the committee’s work, a National Disaster Compensation Convention was signed on 31 October 2001. The agreement put in place special procedures and dispensations to guarantee simple, rapid compensation of the victims, including those who were not insured.
A large-scale system was then introduced to settle all claims: a team of 220 experts, 25 claims managers and 10 lawyers was set up on site to manage disaster compensation.
Thanks to the allocation of these resources, it was possible to settle 99% of the claims amicably.
 Breakdown of settled claims |
Recognition of the exceptional nature of the disaster
To compensate people for their injuries, a special team of medical experts was set up as early as 2001, placed under the joint supervision of the Order of Legal Experts and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Toulouse, to guarantee impartial diagnoses and ensure that claims were settle as rapidly as possible.
The amounts of compensation paid were not limited by Social Security ceilings and were systematically based on the maximum amounts awarded by French Courts of Appeal.
Furthermore, given the importance of this disaster, recognition of “specific supplementary harm” enabled the payment of additional compensation.
16 000 people compensated for bodily injury.
71 000 cases involving compensation for material damage (of which 33,000 involved dwellings).
More than 2 billion euros paid in compensation for bodily injury or material damage.
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