Côtes-d'Armor. Green algae: the State found responsible for the death of a jogger, a first

The Nantes Administrative Court of Appeal on Tuesday ordered the State to compensate the relatives of a jogger who died in 2016 in a mudflat invaded by green algae at the mouth of the Gouessant River (Côtes-d'Armor). The court "retained the State's liability for negligence, due to its failures to implement European and national regulations intended to protect waters from any pollution of agricultural origin," which is "the main cause of the proliferation of green algae in Brittany," it explained in a press release.

In November 2022, the Rennes Administrative Court rejected the family's compensation claims outright, with the public prosecutor finding that a "causal link" between the presence of the algae and the jogger's death "could not be established," nor could the State be held responsible. "Mr. Auffray died of sudden respiratory failure, which could have been due to exposure to green algae or cardiac arrest," he said. His relatives then appealed the judgment "requesting only that the State be ordered to compensate them," the court stated in its press release.

The court considers, based in particular on several documents which had not been presented to the administrative court of Rennes, that the death of the victim, aged 50, which occurred instantly and was caused by massive and fulminating pulmonary edema, could not be explained otherwise than by fatal poisoning by inhalation of hydrogen sulfide at very high concentrations," it explains.

"For the first time, a French court has found a link between the death of a person and the State's fault in these green algae cases," said the family's lawyer, François Lafforgue. "The State must act effectively now more than ever," he added.

The damage suffered by the deceased's relatives will be partially compensated, the court finding that the fifty-year-old had taken a risk by going for a run in the estuary. It "consequently judges that the State is only 60% liable for the harmful consequences of the death." The State will have to pay the jogger's wife the sum of €277,343, plus interest, the victim's three children €15,000 each, and his brother €9,000.