Report of the working group on the revision of the Dintilhac nomenclature
Twenty years after it was created, the French nomenclature of personal injury losses has just been revised. A working group of the Cour de cassation has submitted its report: new heads of loss are recognised, several definitions are clarified, and the nomenclature now has 22 heads of loss for the direct victim (up from 20) and 8 for indirect victims (down from 9).
The report keeps the structure of the 2005 nomenclature: direct and indirect victims, pecuniary and non-pecuniary losses, and a dividing line at the date of consolidation (the date on which the victim's condition stabilises). It incorporates twenty years of case law, recognises losses that the nomenclature did not previously list, and simplifies the heads of loss available to relatives. The basis on which third-party payers (social security bodies, insurers) exercise their subrogation claims is unchanged.
1. New heads of loss
Temporary third-party assistance (ATPT) is taken out of miscellaneous expenses and becomes a head of loss in its own right, as was already the case in practice. The definition makes clear that the assistance is not limited to vital needs, that it may be awarded during a hospital stay and that it covers help with parenting. Compensation is not reduced where the help is provided free of charge by a relative (2nd Civ., 17 October 2024, No. 22-18.905).
Fear of imminent death (PAMI) becomes a head of loss in its own right, whether the victim died or survived. Until now it stood on its own only where the victim had died (Mixed Ch., 25 March 2022, No. 20-15.624) and was included in pain and suffering where the victim survived (2nd Civ., 11 July 2024, No. 23-10.068).
Anxiety loss (PANX) becomes a head of loss in its own right, independent of consolidation, following Mixed Ch., 29 May 2026, No. 24-17.384. The head of “evolving non-pecuniary losses” is abolished.
Waiting and worry loss (PAI) suffered by relatives enters the nomenclature (Mixed Ch., 25 March 2022, No. 20-17.072). It is compensable where the direct victim suffered serious harm or died.
Loss of domestic contribution (PI, perte d'industrie) compensates the economic value of the domestic or parental help that the direct victim gave to relatives. Loss of parental help is compensable whatever the couple's situation (2nd Civ., 12 March 2026, No. 24-15.532).
2. Existing heads of loss clarified and expanded
Pecuniary losses
Temporary miscellaneous expenses: they now expressly cover the costs of assessing the losses (medical adviser, occupational therapist, accountant, actuary).
Temporary health expenses: the daily hospital charge (forfait hospitalier) is included (2nd Civ., 3 May 2006, No. 05-12.617).
Temporary professional loss: it includes the impact on the victim's career before consolidation (loss of a professional opportunity, greater difficulty at work, change of job on returning to work).
Permanent loss of earnings: full compensation requires that the victim be unable to carry out any professional activity, assessed in light of the after-effects, training, qualifications, age and the local job market (2nd Civ., 3 June 2026, No. 24-19.134). Young victims with no income at the date of the injury are compensated on the basis of an estimate of the earnings they could have received.
Permanent career impact: it includes the social devaluation felt by a victim permanently excluded from the world of work (2nd Civ., 6 May 2021, No. 19-23.173; Crim., 9 December 2025, No. 24-86.947).
Adapted housing, adapted vehicle and educational loss: these three heads of loss become independent of consolidation. Their titles now refer to “costs and needs”, as the victim does not have to prove that the expenses were actually incurred. Where a vehicle cannot be adapted, the cost of buying an adapted vehicle is compensated, including for a victim who had no vehicle.
Non-pecuniary losses
Temporary functional deficit: it now includes two expressly identified sub-heads, loss of amenity and sexual harm before consolidation, so that they are actually compensated.
Pain and suffering and permanent functional deficit: the circumstances of the harmful event must be taken into account, in particular acts committed within the family or an attack on human dignity. The report does not, however, create a separate head of moral damage.
Permanent functional deficit: its scope is unchanged, but its components (suffering, loss of quality of life, disruption to living conditions) must be assessed in their subjective dimension, not only through the permanent impairment rating (AIPP). The definition is aligned with Article L. 434-1 of the French Social Security Code, as amended by Article 90 of the 2025 Social Security Financing Act, and with the order of 7 May 2026 on indicative disability scales.
Loss of family life prospects (préjudice d'établissement): the path to parenthood (assisted reproduction, adoption) made necessary by the injury becomes compensable.
3. Child victims: specific attention
The working group rejects both a separate nomenclature and a stand-alone head of “juvenile loss”. Instead, it builds the situation of young victims into several existing heads of loss. The temporary functional deficit thus covers the loss of social life caused by being unable to attend school and the loss of sporting or leisure activities, even without an established prior practice. Professional losses must be assessed even for a child who will never enter working life.
4. Indirect victims: a simplified nomenclature
The distinction between the losses of relatives where the direct victim dies and where the direct victim survives disappears:
companionship loss (préjudice d'accompagnement) now also covers cases where the victim survives, and absorbs the former “exceptional non-pecuniary loss” (2nd Civ., 10 October 2024, No. 23-11.736);
bereavement and emotional loss (préjudice d'affection) is merged into a single head and expressly includes the relatives' own sexual harm and the loss of the chance to build a family life with the victim;
relatives' professional loss covers the impact on their careers (1st Civ., 15 October 2025, No. 24-16.323);
relatives' miscellaneous expenses include childcare and adapting their home so that they can continue to receive the victim;
“funeral costs” become funeral and burial expenses, which the victim's estate may claim where it paid them.
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