France / 07 June 2006 / France, Cour de cassation / Copropriété Maritime Jules Verne et al v. Société American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) / 03-12.034
| Country | France |
| Court | France, Cour de cassation (French Court of Cassation) |
| Date | 07 June 2006 |
| Parties | Copropriété Maritime Jules Verne et al v. Société American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) |
| Case number | 03-12.034 |
| Applicable NYC Provisions | II | VII | VII(1) |
| Source |
Bulletin 2006 I N° 287 p. 251, Original decision obtained from the registry of the Cour de cassation |
| Summary | The co-ownership Jules Vernes and the owners of the "Tag Heuer" ship, initiated proceedings before the Tribunal de Commerce de Paris (Commercial Court of Paris) in order to obtain compensation for damage to the ship. The American classification company (American Bureau of Shipping) challenged the jurisdiction of French courts on the basis of the arbitration agreement contained in the classification contract providing for arbitration in New York. The Tribunal de commerce de Paris and the Cour d'appel de Paris (Paris Court of Appeal) dismissed the case and referred the parties to arbitration in accordance with Articles II and VII(1) NYC. Following a decision of the Cour de cassation (Supreme Court) reversing the decision of the Cour d'appel de Paris, the case was remanded before the Cour d'appel de Paris which held that French courts lacked jurisdiction to hear the dispute. The Jules Vernes co-ownership challenged this decision on the ground that Article VII NYC allows only for the application of a more favorable domestic law when such law allows such parties to avail themselves of an arbitral award, but does not grant domestic law precedence regarding the conditions in which national courts must refuse to hear a dispute when there is an arbitration agreement. They also claimed that the arbitration agreement was manifestly inapplicable to them given that they were not signatories to the classification contract and that therefore the decision was contrary to Article 1458 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The Cour de cassation affirmed the decision of the Cour d'appel de Paris. It reasoned that the NYC reserves the right to apply domestic law in situations where it is more favorable for the recognition and validity of the arbitration agreement and that the principle of validity of international arbitration agreements and the principle according to which arbitrators have jurisdiction to decide on their own jurisdiction are material rules of French international arbitration law. It then noted that the combination of these principles preclude French Courts from carrying out a substantive, in-depth examination of the arbitration agreement, except in cases where the agreement is void or manifestly inapplicable. On this basis and in light of the complex factual and legal analysis of the dispute, the Cour de cassation held that the Cour d'appel de Paris rightly concluded that as the arbitration agreement was not manifestly inapplicable, the French judge had encroached on the arbitrators' jurisdiction. |
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Attachment (1)
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