Cour de cassation 1ère Chambre civile; 2022-11-23; 1re Civ., 23 novembre 2022, pourvoi n° 21-22.254
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:FR:CCASS:2022:C100811
Date: 2022-11-23
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: France

82022FR1123(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
In this case, the Cour de Cassation (hereinafter ‘the Supreme Court’) examined if the cour d’appel de Reims (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’) made a correct application of the law when it refused to stay its proceedings although two related actions where pending in the courts of different Member States.
The French company Moulins Soufflet (hereinafter ‘defendant 1’) entrusted the manufacture of a flour mill to the Belgian company Artiliège (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’), which subtracted a part of the order to the Belgian company Boogaerts (hereinafter ‘defendant 2’), which sued in the French courts, for payment of invoices, the plaintiff and the defendant 1; claiming that the mill was defective, defendant 1 sued, in France, the company whose expertise it had sought, and this company (hereinafter ‘defendant 3’) had a third-party notice served to the plaintiff and defendant 2.
The case was brought before the Court of Appeal. The plaintiff requested a stay of proceedings pursuant to Article 30(1) of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (1), which provides that ‘[where] related actions are pending in the courts of different Member States, any court other than the court first seised may stay its proceedings’.
The Court of Appeal acknowledged that the actions brought in France and Belgium were related and could lead to contradictory judgments. However, it refused to stay its proceedings, on the grounds that the wrongs alleged in the Belgian action were not central in the French proceedings.
The plaintiff appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeal exercised its discretion when it held that there was no need to stay its proceedings.
The appeal was dismissed.
(1) 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).