Loss of amenity (loss of specific leisure activities)
The permanent non-pecuniary head of loss that compensates the victim's inability or difficulty to regularly practice a specific sport or leisure activity they pursued before the accident.
Loss of amenity long meant, broadly, the loss of life's pleasures. The Dintilhac classification and case law narrowed it: the general loss of quality of life is now compensated through the permanent functional deficit, and loss of amenity covers only the inability, or restriction, to practice a specific sport or leisure activity the victim regularly pursued before the harm. The victim must therefore prove that prior practice, through a license, competitions, testimonies, and the expert must find that the after-effects prevent or limit it. The award reflects the intensity of the practice, the level reached and the victim's age. For the insurer, the narrow definition avoids double compensation with the permanent functional deficit, but it shifts the debate to proof of the activity, which leads to systematic requests for supporting documents.
In a ruling of March 29, 2018, the second civil chamber of the Court of Cassation held that loss of amenity compensates solely the inability to regularly practice a specific sport or leisure activity: a licensed marathon runner who can no longer run obtains it, not a victim citing general discomfort.
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