France / 25 February 2010 / France, Cour d'appel de Paris / Fédération française d'études et de sports sous-marins (FFESSM) v. Société Cutner & Associates P.C. / 08/22780
| Country | France |
| Court | France, Cour d'appel de Paris (Court of Appeal of Paris) |
| Date | 25 February 2010 |
| Parties | Fédération française d'études et de sports sous-marins (FFESSM) v. Société Cutner & Associates P.C. |
| Case number | 08/22780 |
| Applicable NYC Provisions | IV | IV(2) |
| Source |
Original decision obtained from the registry of the Cour d’appel de Paris |
| Summary | The President and General Secretary of a French Federation (FFESSM) entered into an agreement with an American law firm (CUTNER & Associates) for legal representation in a litigation brought by a French Association (Equipe Cousteau) before the Courts of New York. A dispute arose as to counsel's fees. Pursuant to the arbitration agreement contained in the contract, the American law firm filed a claim against the French Federation before the American Arbitration Association. In an award dated 26 June 2007, the arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of the American law firm and awarded damages. In an order issued on 1 September 2008, the President of the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris (First Instance Court of Paris) allowed enforcement of the award in France. Appealing this decision, FFESSM and its President and General Secretary argued that the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris lacked jurisdiction to grant the enforcement of the award. In this respect, they argued that they did not receive a proper notice of the procedural acts, which were not translated into French, contrary to the requirement of Article IV(2) NYC, and that enforcement should be denied pursuant to Article 1502 2° and 1502 4° of the Code of Civil Procedure. Lastly, they claimed that only FFESSM is a party to the contract and therefore the arbitral tribunal had been deceived in holding FFESSM's representatives liable in their own name. The Cour d'appel de Paris (Paris Court of Appeal) confirmed the enforcement of the award. It ruled that, in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure, the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris has jurisdiction to allow enforcement of international awards or awards rendered abroad and rejected the fraud allegations which pertained to the merits of the award and were therefore not open to review by the annulment judge. As to the enforcement of the award, the Cour d'appel de Paris held that the arbitral tribunal acted in accordance with the procedure agreed upon between the parties (by referring to the provisions of the Rules of the American Arbitration Association pertaining to procedural acts and the language of the arbitration) and that therefore proper notice was provided to both parties. It then rejected FFESSM's argument based on Article IV NYC by recalling that this provision only deals with the translation requirements for enforcement of awards (i.e. the award has to be translated in the official language of the country in which the award is relied upon). Consequently, it ruled that the fact that the procedural acts in the arbitration were not translated in the language of the country in which the award is sought to be enforced did not constitute a breach of Article IV NYC. |
Attachment (1)
 Original Language Adobe Acrobat PDF |
