Property Owner Liability for Retaining Wall Collapse Damage

The case concerned an individual who, while lawfully using a public road, was injured by falling stones emanating from a private property's retaining wall which had collapsed due to its poor condition, leading the injured party to seek damages from the property owner based on the owner's liability for defective property under civil code provisions. The Court of Cassation upheld the lower court's decision, reasoning that the owner of a building or structure is responsible for damages caused by its ruin, even if that ruin is only a partial collapse, provided the collapse is due to a fault in maintenance or construction, and in this instance, the precarious state of the wall constituted such a fault, establishing the owner's strict liability.