Cass. Civ. 1st, 17 March 2021, n° 19-24.168, PAULET / SA SOGELMA
The exequatur is the procedure by which a judgment or an arbitral award rendered in a foreign country is made enforceable in France.
In the case submitted to the Court of cassation, the company SOGELMA had obtained an arbitral award condemning Mr. PAULET to pay it a certain sum.
The company SOGELMA had obtained the exequatur of the arbitral award by order of the Tribunal of great instance.
Mr. PAULET had appealed the order of exequatur before the Court of appeal.
The Court of appeal of Montpellier had granted the exequatur of the arbitral award in its entirety.
Mr. PAULET then formed an appeal in cassation.
He notably invoked that the Court of appeal should have pronounced a partial exequatur of the arbitral award, in the measure where the latter condemned him to pay sums distinct and separable.
The Court of cassation, in its decision of 17 March 2021, casses the decision of the Court of appeal of Montpellier.
It states: “The judge of the exequatur can pronounce the exequatur of only one part of the arbitral award, when the latter condemns to pay sums distinct and separable, even if the parties have not requested it.”
This decision is interesting because it confirms that the judge of the exequatur has a power of moderation on the arbitral award.
He is not bound by the request of the parties and can pronounce a partial exequatur if the arbitral award contains condemnations which are distinct and separable.
This jurisprudence is a guarantee of protection for the parties, as it avoids that an arbitral award, which would contain an irregularity, be executed in its entirety, when it is possible to dissociate the part of the award which is regular from the part which is not.
This decision also reminds us that the judge of the exequatur has a role of control of the regularity of the arbitral award, and that this control must be exercised with discernment.