Litigation

From world-renowned manufacturers of sophisticated machinery to modest businesses hiring a contractor to install air conditioning in their premises, any company may one day face a dispute involving complex technical issues requiring court-ordered expert investigations.

Such preparatory inquiries are, in fact, almost unavoidable in this type of litigation.

Companies must therefore understand how court-ordered expert investigations work to ensure they are conducted in a manner that respects their procedural rights.

Two new Conventions Judiciaires d’Intérêt Public (French-style Deferred Prosecution Agreements, hereinafter “CJIPs”) have been published on the website of the Ministry of Justice, following their approval by the Paris Judicial Court on May 17, 2023.

These two CJIPs concern legal entities accused of having committed acts that could be classified as influence peddling for the first CJIP, and of having participated in irregularities in public procurement for the second CJIP.

In a ruling issued on May 11, 2023, the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) held that an employment contract may impose on an employee the obligation to repay part of his/her “welcome bonus” if he/she resigns before the date on which full payment of the bonus is due.

In two rulings handed down on January 18, 2023, the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) recalled that while the judge cannot substitute him/herself for the employer in establishing and applying the criteria to determine the order of dismissals (i.e. the order in which employee(s) will be dismissed) in the context of a dismissal on economic grounds, in case of dispute on the application of said criteria, the employer must disclose to the judge the objective elements on which it relied in order to make its choice.

Wherever a dismissal is declared null and void because it is based on a prohibited or unlawful ground, the judge is required to examine the other grounds for dismissal, if any, that have been raised in order to determine the amount of the specific compensation to be awarded to the employee… But only if he/she is expressly asked to do so by the employer.

With respect to dismissals on disciplinary grounds, the one-month period for notifying an employee of his/her dismissal is counted from date to date. The setting by the employer of a date for a new pre-dismissal interview, due to the non-attendance of the employee at the initial interview, does not interrupt the one-month period.