FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Thierry Marembert, Cécile Labarbe and Céline Serpagli, Kiejman & Marembert
also request copies of judgments. Moreover, in principle, the public has access to anonymised versions of decisions rendered by French courts, since an executive order of June 2020 enshrined the open data of court decisions. Judicial court decisions must be posted online within six months of their issuance (two months for admin- istrative courts). 7.7 Level of Intervention by a Judge Judges’ interactions with parties and their lawyers, when cases have come to trial, have increased in recent years. In the past, only crimi- nal trials involved a thorough interaction, but this is now frequent in all types of courts, especially in commercial courts where judges often ask precise questions, albeit only on the points they deem useful. 7.8 General Timeframes for Proceedings Proceedings on the merits of a dispute generally take one to two years to be decided by most courts. There can be accelerated proceedings on the merits (called jour fixe , bref délai or procédure accélérée au fond ) upon evidence of an emer- gency. In such cases, the hearing for oral argu- ments takes place a few weeks after the delivery of the initial writ.
Although possible, court approval is not required to settle a lawsuit. 8.2 Settlement of Lawsuits and Confidentiality A non-disclosure clause can be included in the agreement. 8.3 Enforcement of Settlement Agreements Parties can ask the judge to certify the settle- ment agreement to ensure its enforceability. The parties can appeal against the refusal of the court. Upon the enactment of the Act of 22 December 2021, settlements shall be enforceable when countersigned by the lawyers of each of the parties and endorsed by the clerk of the court. 8.4 Setting Aside Settlement Agreements In order for a settlement to be valid, parties must make mutual concessions, in addition to classic conditions applicable to all contracts (ie, con- sent of the parties, contractual capacity, lawful and specific content). If those conditions are not met, the trial judge may declare the settlement null and void, even if it has been probated. 9. Damages and Judgment 9.1 Awards Available to the Successful Litigant Forced execution in kind has been the principle since 2016. When execution in kind is impossi- ble, the judge may consider awarding damages to compensate the prejudice caused. In addition, litigants can ask the judge to order the losing party to pay the legal costs, including legal fees.
8. Settlement 8.1 Court Approval
Parties can settle at any time, including after a judgment has been rendered. Settling is not possible for issues related to public order or non-pecuniary rights, such as the capacity of the persons, citizenship, filiation, professional sanctions for personal bankruptcy, etc.
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