FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Thierry Marembert, Cécile Labarbe and Céline Serpagli, Kiejman & Marembert
domiciled in French overseas territories, and by two months when the notified party is domiciled abroad. The notice of appeal shall state whether the appeal aims to cancel the judgment on procedural grounds or challenge its findings. In the latter case, the notice must specify which findings are challenged. Once the appeal has been lodged, the case can be allotted to a standard track or a fast track. On the standard track, appellants have three months from the filing of the notice of appeal to file their submis- sions; the defendant then has three months from the notification of the appellant’s submissions to respond. On the fast track, which is reserved to urgent cases, including appeals against interim relief orders, the par- ties have two months each. For both the standard and fast tracks, the time limits may be reduced or extend- ed by the presiding judge on a case-by-case basis. Under the same conditions as for the notice of appeal, the time limits are extended when the notified party is domiciled in the French overseas territories or abroad. The judge in charge of managing the case on either track can order further rounds of submissions. In cases of extreme urgency where parties’ rights are “at risk”, parties can petition the highest ranking judge of the court to have their case heard on a fixed date. A systematic invitation for the parties to enter into a par- ticipatory procedure agreement for hearing prepara- tion was introduced in 2023 ( Convention de procédure participative aux fins de mise en état ). To encourage its use, resorting to these agreements allows for priority scheduling of hearings. 10.4 Issues Considered by the Appeal Court at an Appeal The scope of the dispute before the appeal court is tied to the notice of appeal and the parties’ initial sub- missions. In their first submissions, the parties must specify all their claims on the merits. In principle, new claims made in subsequent submissions may be held inad- missible, except for claims specifically intended to respond to the party’s submissions and exhibits, or
claims dealing with new issues raised after the filing of the first submissions. This restriction only applies to claims: new factual or legal arguments may still be raised in subsequent sub- missions if they relate to the parties’ claims. 10.5 Court-Imposed Conditions on Granting an Appeal A court of appeal cannot dismiss an appeal that com- plies with the rules mentioned in 10.4 Issues Consid- ered by the Appeal Court at an Appeal . However, a party can petition the appeal judge to strike out the appeal of the other party when it does not comply with the appealed judgment requirements (for instance, to pay the damages awarded). The judge also declines to strike out the appeal when the party is unable – for objective reasons – to comply with the decision or when enforcing the decision could entail manifestly excessive consequences. 10.6 Powers of the Appellate Court After an Appeal Hearing After hearing an appeal, the appellate court may uphold or reverse the lower court decision either in whole or in part but can also modify it, ordering any measure it deems justified and awarding costs. 11. Costs 11.1 Responsibility for Paying the Costs of Litigation The prevailing party is generally awarded reimburse- ment by the losing party of the costs linked to the proceedings and, to some extent, their lawyer’s fees. The costs that are directly related to the conduct of a trial ( dépens ) include: • duties and taxes collected by the court administra- tion; • court translation costs for international notices; • compensation for a court-appointed expert; • costs relating to investigation measures; and • public officers’ remuneration.
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