Worker Injury in Tree Felling: Employer Liability and Assumption of Risk

The case concerns a contract where a worker, hired to fell trees, was injured due to the collapse of a tree he was supposed to cut, leading to a claim for damages against the employer for failing to provide a safe working environment. The Court of Cassation rejected the appeal, affirming that the employer has a general obligation of safety, but this obligation does not constitute an absolute guarantee against all risks; specifically, in this hazardous work environment, the employee, who was aware of the inherent dangers of tree felling and the specific risk associated with the unstable tree, failed to demonstrate that the employer's failure to provide specific protective measures was the direct cause of the accident, as the injury arose from an unpredictable risk inherent to the execution of the task itself, which the worker should have anticipated and guarded against.