Short answer. Yes. Liability for negligence does not depend on an agreement between you. The Civil Code recognises obligations that arise from quasi-delicts — fault or negligence causing damage where no contract links the parties — and a fire spreading from a neighbour's premises is the classic example.

What the law says

Obligations derived from quasi-delicts shall be governed by the provisions of Chapter 2, Title XVII of this Book, and by special laws.

Civil Code, Article 1162 — Obligations From Quasi-Delicts. Read the full provision →

An obligation can exist without anyone agreeing to it

The instinct that you need a contract before you can sue somebody is the assumption this provision exists to correct. Article 1162 states that obligations derived from quasi-delicts shall be governed by the provisions of Chapter 2, Title XVII of this Book, and by special laws. It appears in the Civil Code's list of the sources of obligations, alongside law, contracts and delicts — which is the point. A quasi-delict is a free-standing source of legal duty. You and your neighbour never dealt with each other, never promised each other anything, and it makes no difference: the obligation to answer for damage caused by one's own fault arises from the conduct, not from consent.

What has to be established about the fire

Article 2176, which is the operative provision in the chapter this article points to, requires damage, fault or negligence, and a causal link between the two. In a fire case that means showing not merely that the blaze started next door but that it started because of something your neighbour did or failed to do — an overloaded circuit left unattended, stored fuel, an open flame near combustible stock, a warning ignored. Cause is the element that is usually contested. Fires destroy the evidence of their own origin, so the investigation record, the fire authority's findings and photographs taken before the debris is cleared carry disproportionate weight.

Insurance changes the shape of the claim, not the right

If your shop was insured, being paid out does not mean the neighbour escapes. It ordinarily means the insurer takes over your claim to the extent it paid, and pursues the neighbour in your place. What remains yours is the shortfall — the deductible, the uninsured stock, and losses the policy did not cover, which for a business is often the interruption of trading rather than the burnt fixtures. Read the policy before you sign anything the insurer puts in front of you, because a release given to settle quickly can affect what is left to claim against the person who actually caused the fire.

What to do in the first week

Photograph everything before clearing up, and photograph the neighbour's side too if you can do so lawfully. Obtain the fire authority's report rather than relying on what anyone said at the scene. List the stock lost against your purchase records, and pull the sales figures for the weeks before the fire so the interruption has a baseline. Take the names of neighbours who saw the start of it while their memory is fresh. Then bring the whole file to a lawyer — the strength of a negligence claim is usually decided by evidence gathered in the first days, long before anyone drafts a complaint.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.