The International Commercial Chamber of the Court of Appeal of Paris (France) delivered a few days ago (27 October 2020) a decision (RG 20/01368) on commercial agents.
Summary:
“The ICCP -CA was seized by an appeal against a decision of the Paris Commercial Court, which ruled that a commercial agent was liable of a serious breach, excluding the termination indemnities provided for in Articles L.134-11 et seq. of the French Commercial Code.
The ICCP -CA overturned this decision, ruling that a serious breach makes it impossible to maintain the contractual relationship; and that cannot be qualified as serious a breach of which the principal was aware well before the termination of the contract and which it tolerated without blaming the agent or warning or advising of the risk that this breach might have on the continuation of the agency contract.
The Court thus held that the breach allegedly committed by the commercial agent in 2007, relating to the allegedly faulty registration of the disputed trademark in China, discovered in 2013, and followed by a retrocession agreement in 2014, cannot be qualified as serious enough to deprive the termination notified on 22 September 2016 of any indemnity .
The Court also held that the grievances subsequently raised by the principal were admissible even if they were not included in the letter of termination as they predated the termination; but in the present case, their existence and seriousness were not established and did not amount to a general lack of loyalty”.
European Civil Justice 