Who is actually liable, the board or the gardener?

Questioner

We have commissioned a gardener to redesign our garden. This is the garden of our holiday home, which is located on a forest park. This forest park has a semi-paved road, which has recently been renovated. We have repeatedly indicated to the gardener that he should be careful with this path and that it has just been renovated. After completion of the work, it turned out that the forest path was damaged. The board of the Association of Landowners has spoken to us about this, but has not (yet) held us liable. Of course we have referred them to the gardener, but they keep talking to us about it. The question now is: who is liable now? And do we have to keep getting in between the board and the gardener? What is caused outside our garden, by someone else, cannot be our fault? We would like your advice with a legal basis.

Lawyer

You are the client, so you are the point of contact for the board of the plot owners.

Lawyer

You and both the gardener can be held liable separately or together. You as the client, the gardener via the general article of tort. But it is usually easier to hold the client liable on the basis of special tort: ​​the client (you) is liable for an tort of his contractor (the gardener)

Lawyer

You also asked: are we also liable if the gardener hits someone on the way to the assignment? No, because that falls outside the scope of the assignment gardening work. You can deny your liability, but that requires some legal knowledge.