Mining damage in Moselle: the State must pay 3 million euros to the victims

They live in a house that has been leaning for more than 30 years, and have been fighting in court for nearly 20 years... For Joëlle and Gaston Pirih, the decision of the Metz Court of Appeal to recognize the responsibility of mining in the "ordeal" they have suffered since the end of the 1980s is "already a good thing. Because everything that happens here, I have the impression rather that the State is trying to forget it", reacted Ms. Pirih to AFP.

The court of appeal, which handed down 29 judgments on Tuesday in as many cases of aggrieved owners, concluded that "most of the damage observed is the consequence of mining" in this region of eastern Moselle, on the German border.

The State Judicial Agent (AJE), which succeeded the Charbonnages de France establishment after its liquidation, was therefore ordered to pay more than 3,2 million euros in 28 out of 29 cases.

In most cases, the court set compensation corresponding to the market value of the building or compensation “enabling lifting work to be carried out”.

Compensation deemed insufficient

For others, it set compensation allowing "to carry out repair work that is lighter than lifting work but considered sufficient by the legal expert", specifies Christophe Mackowiak, the first president of the jurisdiction.

In the amount of compensation, "the magistrates took into account some transactions already concluded in the 1990s between certain owners and the Houillères du Bassin de Lorraine".

Other sums were granted to the owners according to "the importance of the slope which affects the building", according to Mr. Mackowiak, for loss of enjoyment.

A final complainant had his request rejected, the house having been sold and "the proof of the drop in the sale price was not provided", indicates Mr. Mackowiak.

In their case in particular, the Pirih couple believes that the account is not there. “We have not obtained full and lasting compensation,” said Ms. Pirih. "It's too expensive, they don't want to repair it. So we don't know what to do anymore (...) the crevices, the cracks are still there, the houses are still sagging, the damage continues."

“We lost 38 years of quality of life,” adds her husband. In their home, strings hold the doors and prevent them from slamming, a shutter in the living room no longer opens, blocks have been placed under the furniture to keep them upright...

Long fight

With a slope of 3%, their daily life is punctuated by “fixing up”. At the same time, the Pirih couple are at the head of an association for the defense of owners of Rosbruck and its surrounding areas and have been waging the legal fight for years.

The first case was brought in 2007 before the Sarreguemines court. In 2010, certain owners were awarded damages, but the Charbonnages de France establishment appealed this decision. The Metz Court of Appeal then requested judicial expertise in 2015 which was rendered between 2017 and 2022, leading to these judgments.

Around fifteen cases must still be judged by the court, when the judicial expert reports will be filed and "the lawyers of the parties will have been able to debate them contradictorily", specified the court.

Mining galleries were operated under a large part of the houses in Rosbruck. But the absence of backfilling of these galleries caused subsidence of 16 meters of the ground. Eighty houses have been restored or destroyed in recent decades in the town.

The Pirihs also fear that the AJE will file a cassation appeal, which it can do within two months and would mean a new legal battle...