Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 507

Summary: - Fault in contractual liability. Its occurrence through a contracting party’s breach of his contractual obligations. Its being, in itself, a basis for liability. - Determining whether a contracting party breached his obligations giving rise to liability. Within the authority of the court of merits. Its condition. - The causal link in civil liability. Its foundation on fault productive of damage. - Fault productive of damage. Its meaning. That which contributes to causing the damage without being merely the consequence of another fault. - Multiple faults productive of damage. Their being regarded as independent, mutually supporting causes among all of which liability is distributed, rather than the greatest fault alone bearing it in its entirety. - The more serious fault. It does not subsume other independent faults, however serious it is. Exception. Its subsuming other faults. Its condition. Its sufficiency to bring about the result in the form in which it occurred, being sufficient in itself without the contribution of the other faults. Rule: It is established that fault within the scope of contractual liability occurs whenever a contracting party breaches his contractual obligations, and that such fault is considered in itself a basis for liability. The court of merits has the authority to determine whether or not one of the contracting parties was the one who breached his obligations giving rise to his contractual liability, provided that its inference is reasonable. It also has the authority to ascertain and understand the facts of the case, assess the evidence, and adopt such evidence as it finds reliable ..... It is sufficient that it base its judgment on reasonable grounds having their established basis in the papers and sufficient to support it. The causal link in civil liability is founded on fault productive of damage, and productive fault is that which contributes to causing the damage and is not merely the consequence of another fault. If these faults are multiple, they are regarded as independent, mutually supporting causes among all of which liability is distributed, rather than the greatest fault alone bearing it. It is established that, however serious the more serious fault may be, it does not subsume other independent faults; otherwise, it would be sufficient to bring about the result in the form in which it occurred, being sufficient in itself without the contribution of the other faults. Determining the fault giving rise to liability and identifying the cause productive of damage are matters exclusively for the court of merits, provided that it bases its judgment on reasonable grounds.