The Insurance & Liability department of Janson has been one of its cornerstone practice areas since the firm’s founding in 1950. It was first led by Roger Dalcq, widely recognized in Belgium as “the Pope of Liability”. Today, the department is led by his successor, Paul-Henry Delvaux, who brings fifty years of distinguished experience at the Bar and several years of academic career at the Catholic University of Louvain. He is supported by Corentin Bontyès, who joined the team several years ago and has developed solid expertise in insurance and liability law over the course of his career. Working closely with Paul-Henry Delvaux on complex litigation and advisory cases, he actively contributes to the development of the department and to the support provided to its Belgian and international clients.

The Insurance & Liability practice advises and represents personal injury claimants, insured parties, insurers, and insurance brokers in a broad range of domestic and cross-border cases relating to insurance law (life and non-life insurance), contractual liability, and tort law.

It assists clients across the full spectrum of insurance and liability law, including cases concerning complex and high-value personal injury compensation, medical negligence, road traffic accidents, professional liability, workplace accidents, product liability, construction, and industrial accidents, as well as insurance coverage disputes, both in negotiations and before civil and criminal courts.

The team has expertise in multi-jurisdictional proceedings, including the preparation of expert opinions for foreign courts, the representation of international clients before the Belgian courts, and complex damage assessments involving domestic or foreign insurers and cross-border accidents.

Our Insurance & Liability team also provides strategic advice on claims handling, risk management, liability exposure, regulatory and pre-litigation matters.

Practice contacts

Paul-Henry Delvaux ph.delvaux@janson.be

Paul-Henry Delvaux
ph.delvaux@janson.be

Team

Senior Counsel

Counsel

Associates

  • Mila Feron

  • Marie Henrotte

  • Marie-Noëlle Lippens de Cerf

  • Johan Vanoost

Services

  • Insurance law (litigation and advisory) ;

  • Personal injury claims ;

  • Road traffic accident claims ;

  • Medical negligence claims ;

  • Professional liability claims ;

  • Workplace injury claims ;

  • Product liability claims ;

  • Tort law claims ;

  • Construction and industrial liability claims.

Track record

  • Assisting multiple corporations in their risk and insurance management assessment

  • Assessments for numerous insured of the guarantees contained in their insurance policies

  • Adaptation of foreign insurance policies into Belgian law

  • Representing multiple clients in disputes regarding their director’s liability

  • Representing numerous clients in disputes with respect to their professional liability (such as lawyers, health care workers, accountants, engineers, consultants, etc.)

  • Representing a credit insurer before an arbitral tribunal in a multimillion EUR dispute regarding a credit insurance claim of a diamond merchant

  • Representing a food manufacturer in a major insurance dispute concerning coverage refusal by the insurer for damaged goods

  • Representing a world leading logistics corporation in a liability dispute as a result of a fire

  • Representing various corporations in disputes pertaining to product liability

  • Representing numerous clients in disputes regarding construction liability related matters

Academic & scientific work

  • Paul-Henry Delvaux has spent most of his career as a professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain (from 1975 to 2004).

  • Martine Berwette is lecturer at the University of Mons and professor at the Brussels Bar.

  • The team has published many books and articles over the past few years, including the following :

    • L'expertise amiable et l'expertise judiciaire offrent-elles les mêmes garanties ?, in Droit médical et dommage corporel. Etat des lieux et perspectives, Ouvrage collectif sous la direction d'Isabelle Lutte, Anthemis, 2014, pp.9 à 35

    • Recension de l'ouvrage Réforme du droit de la responsabilité extracontractuelle (I. Lutte, Anthemis, 2020), FOR.ASS., n°206, 2020

    • Vers un droit de la victime, in La victime, ses droits, ses juges, Ouvrage collectif sous la direction de P.H. Delvaux, Collection de la Conférence du Jeune Barreau de Bruxelles, Larcier, 2009

    • La loi du 15 mai 2007 relative à l'indemnisation des dommages résultant des soins de santé : quelques observations critiques, in Evolution des droits du patient, indemnisation sans faute des dommages liés aux soins de santé : le droit médical en mouvement, Ouvrage collectif sous la direction de Geneviève Schamps, LGDJ, Bruylant, 2008

    • L'assurance de la responsabilité civile des entreprises, in Les entreprises et leurs assurances, Ouvrage collectif, Kluwer 2006

    • Quelques réflexions théoriques sur un tableau pratique, in Le traitement des sinistres avec dommage corporel et dix ans de tableau indicatif, Ouvrage collectif, Larcier, 2004

    • Le règlement des sinistres : obligation de faire offre et délais de règlement, in Du neuf en assurance R.C. automobile, Ouvrage collectif, Bruylant, 2004

    • Les effets en droit belge de la résolution des contrats pour inexécutions, in Les sanctions de l'inexécution des obligations contractuelles, Etudes de droit comparé, Ouvrage collectif, LGDJ - Bruylant, 2001