Cour de cassation 1ère Chambre civile; 2022-06-29; 1re Civ., 29 juin 2022, pourvoi n° 21-11.722
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:FR:CCASS:2022:C100616
Date: 2022-06-29
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: France

82022FR0629(52)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
In this case, the Court de Cassation (hereinafter ‘the Supreme Court’) examined if the cour d’appel de Paris (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’) made a correct application of the law when it held that a Congolese refugee domiciled in France could sue foreign companies before the French courts.
A Congolese national (hereinafter ‘the defendant’) fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo; claiming that he had been a victim of violence and death threats by a hierarchical superior; he was recognised as a refugee. Afterwards, he sued in France his former employer, the Congolese company BGFI Bank RDC as well as its parent company, the Gabonese company BGFI Holding Corporation (hereinafter ‘the plaintiffs’).
The Court of Appeal ruled that the French courts had no jurisdiction. It relied on Article 16(2) of the Geneva Convention (1), which provides that ‘[a] refugee shall enjoy in the Contracting State in which he has his habitual residence the same treatment as a national in matters pertaining to access to the courts’, and on Article 14 of the Code civil (2), which provides that ‘whether or not they reside in France, foreign persons may be sued before the French courts for performance of the obligations under which they put themselves in France towards French persons; they may be sued before the French courts, for the obligations under which they put themselves in a foreign country towards French persons’.
The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court. They claimed that Article 16 of the Geneva Convention did not apply to Article 14 of the Code civil, because the latter provides for a privilege to the benefit of French citizens only.
The Supreme Court gave reasons similar to those of the Court of Appeal; it cited Article 14 of the Code civil, but, instead of relying on Article 16 of the Geneva Convention like the Court of Appeal did, it invoked Article 6(2) of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (3), which provides that ‘as against [a defendant who is not domiciled in a Member State], any person domiciled in a Member State may, whatever his nationality, avail himself in that Member State of the rules of jurisdiction there in force’.
The appeal was dismissed.
(1) Convention of 28 July 1951 relating to the Status of Refugees.
(2) Civil Code.
(3) Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (recast).