Liability law

Liability law

 

Over the years, we have built up an extensive track record in the areas of:

 

  • Damage claims: we offer you complete assistance, advice and follow-up with expert appraisals and defence in procedures in damage cases, physical damage, fire damage, structural damage and traffic accidents. We also assist you in disputes with insurance companies.
  • Directors’ liability: defence of directors whose liability is questioned, both in advice and in a procedure; also assistance for companies and shareholders who believe that directors have made mistakes in the performance of their duties.
  • Government liability: even if the government is at fault, we will assist you with advice and, if possible/necessary, legal action.
  • Product liability: we assist both producers and consumers in product liability claims.
  • Class action claims: we also have experience in setting up major claims with numerous victims.

 

Medical liability

 

In recent years, our company has built up an additional specialisation in the field of medical (liability) law and patient rights:

 

Medical liability:
  • Medical error: this is an error by virtue of a medical treatment by a health care provider, namely a doctor, a nurse or the paramedical staff when a normal, diligent and prudent health care worker of the same category would not have committed this error when put in the same circumstances.
  • Medical appraisal and procedures: we will assist you during the course of a medical appraisal and with legal procedures to prove either an error with an obligation of means or with an obligation of result.
Rights of the patient:
  • Right to a good quality service
  • Right to a free choice of professional
  • Informed consent
  • Right to health condition information
  • Right to inspect the patient file.
Funds for medical accidents:

We give you initial advice about the chances of success, we put together your file and we start the procedure for you.  The procedure for the funds for medical accidents is an alternative, amicable and faster procedure in which the victim or his/her beneficiary endeavours to obtain compensation:

  • either if the damage is caused by a medical accident without liability with abnormal damage, under strict conditions;
  • or if the fact results in the liability of the health care provider, whose civil liability is not covered or insufficiently covered by an insurance policy;
  • or if the health care provider disputes his/her liability in so far as the damage is severe;
  • or if the health care provider’s insurer has proposed compensation, which the Funds considers to be manifestly inadequate.

 

Director’s liability (at the level of civil and company law)

 

Over the years, we have built up an extensive track record in the areas of:

 

Alarm bell procedure
  • Legal assistance for directors since they must react in time if their company gets into financial difficulties. Article 2, Section 52 of the Company Code even provides explicitly that if severe and corresponding facts can threaten the continuity of the company, the management body must deliberate over measures which should be taken to safeguard the continuity of economic activities for a term of at least twelve months. Moreover, in some cases the directors must start the alarm bell procedure in time.
Various grounds of liability
  • From breaches of the articles of association and/or the Company and Association Code, common management errors or breaches of the general standard of care to founder’s liability, liability due to a late declaration of bankruptcy, liability due to tax and social security debts, liability due to a manifestly serious error which has contributed to bankruptcy and liability due to wrongful trading: the range of liability grounds against a director is fairly extensive. We assist you here not only with relevant advice, but also we supervise in the event of legal procedures both for directors and for creditors who are faced with loss as a result of an entrepreneur in difficulty.
  • Apart from grounds of civil liability, the Criminal Code also provides for a number of criminal sanctions which are connected to the insolvency of a company or to injudicious or even malicious acts by a director. Here too, our office can provide the necessary assistance.

Our team

Partner

Naima Es-Samri

Partner

Sophie Bertouille

Partner

Naima Es-Samri

Naima Es-Samri has worked as a lawyer at the Brussels bar since 2000. Since 2018, she has also been a lawyer at the Antwerp bar. She obtained a master’s degree in law at the Roman Catholic University of Louvain-La-Neuve (1998) and has also studied at the Saint Louis University Faculty in Brussels and at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

 

Naima is a co-founder and partner of Everest Antwerp.

 

She assists her clients in all aspects of employment law, both individually and collectively, and also in social security law. She has special expertise in the various aspects of employment provisions, employment contracts, individual dismissal, well-being at work, temporary employment, international employment contracts, secondment abroad, wage policy and social inspection. She gives advice, conducts negotiations and takes care of disputes in these matters.

Email:naima.es.samri@everest-law.com

Tel:+32 (0)3/376.02.00

Area of expertise:Social law; Liability and medical law

Partner

Sophie Bertouille

Sophie Bertouille obtained her master’s degree in law with great distinction at the Roman Catholic University of Louvain-La-Neuve in 2017.

In 2020, she also obtained an advanced master’s degree in company law at the Roman Catholic University of Leuven.

 

She has been registered at the Brussels bar since 2017 and in that same year she joined the Everest office in Brussels.

 

Sophie operates mainly in commercial and company law.

Her working languages are French, Dutch and English.

Managing associate

Ilse Renders

Managing associate

Ilse Renders

 

 

Ilse Renders obtained her master’s degree in law at the Free University of Brussels in 2008 and also studied for an additional master’s degree with great distinction in international and European law at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. In addition, she obtained an advanced master’s degree in tax law at the University of Antwerp in 2013. In 2017, she was awarded the certificate for special training in cassation procedure in criminal matters.

 

She has been registered with the Brussels bar since 2008 and with the Antwerp bar since 2011.

 

She joined the Antwerp office of Everest in 2018 where she works mainly in (national, international, and European) corporate law, commercial and company law liability law, attachment law, contract law, arbitration proceedings (especially in the diamond sector), litigation and dispute resolution, property law.

Contact us

Are you interested in our services regarding liability and medical law? If so, contact our specialists without obligation via our contact form or telephone us on 02/640.44.00 (Brussels office) or 09/334.94.70 (Ghent Office).