CISG CASE PRESENTATION

France 8 January 2002 Supreme Court (Société Coq’in v. Société Polarcup Bénélux BV) (Ice cream cups case)
[Cite as: http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/020108f1.html]

Case Table of Contents

• Case identification
• UNCITRAL abstract
• Classification of issues present
• Editorial remarks
• Citations to case abstracts, texts, and commentaries
• Guide to links contained in case presentations

Case identification

DATE OF DECISION: 20020108 (8 January 2002)

JURISDICTION: France

TRIBUNAL: Cour de Cassation [Supreme Court]

JUDGE(S): M. Lemontey (président); M. Jean-Piere Ancel (conseiller rapporteur); MM. Renard-Payen, Durieux, Mme Bénas, MM. Guérin, Sempère, Gridel (conseillers); Mmes Barberot, Catrey (conseillers référendaires); M. Roehrich (avocat général); Mme Colet (greffier)

CASE NUMBER/DOCKET NUMBER: Y 00-13.453

CASE NAME: Société Coq’in SA Mac Cold v. Société Polarcup Bénélux BV

CASE HISTORY: 1st instance [ - ]; 2d instance Cour d’appel de Grenoble 19 January 2000

SELLER'S COUNTRY: Netherlands (plaintiff)

BUYER'S COUNTRY: France (defendant)

GOODS INVOLVED: Ice cream cups

FRANCE: Court of Cassation 8 January 2002

Case law on UNCITRAL texts (CLOUT) abstract no. 478

Reproduced with permission of UNCITRAL

A French buyer of tubs of ice cream was ordered by the Court of Appeal of Grenoble, deciding the case in chambers, to pay to the seller, a Dutch company, the total invoiced amount for delivered goods. The French company appealed to the Court of Cassation and claimed that the Court of Appeal had, inter alia, failed to apply article 35 CISG and, on the assumption that CISG did not govern contentious sales, had refrained from determining the law applicable to the contract.

The Court of Cassation rejected the appeal. It ruled that there were no grounds for appeal because the Court of Appeal "was able to conclude from the conformity of the product sold--as defined by CISG of 11 April 1980, which the Court was thus implicitly applying--that the obligation of the buyer to pay the sale price could not seriously be contested, there being no need to further consider the merits of the case in order to determine the applicable law".

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Classification of issues present

APPLICATION OF CISG: Yes

APPLICABLE CISG PROVISIONS AND ISSUES

Key CISG provisions at issue: Articles 35 ; 36

Classification of issues using UNCITRAL classification code numbers:

Unavailable

Descriptors: Conformity of Goods

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Editorial remarks

• Unavailable

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Citations to other abstracts, case texts and commentaries

CITATIONS TO OTHER ABSTRACTS OF DECISION

Unavailable

CITATIONS TO TEXT OF DECISION

Original language (French): CISG-France website <http://Witz.jura.uni-sb.de/CISG/decisions/080102v.htm>

Translation: Unavailable

CITATIONS TO COMMENTS ON DECISION

English: Graffi, Case Law on the Concept of "Fundamental Breach" in the Vienna Sales Convention, Revue de droit des affaires internationales / International Business Law Journal, No. 3 (2003) 338-349 at n.65

French: Muir Watt, Review critique de droit international privé (April-June 2002) 343-345; Rueda, La Semaine Juridique Édition Générale, no. 5 (2003) 180