Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier advised SNCF in the 1st proceedings ruled on the merits by the new 34th chamber of the Paris judicial Court

1st April 2025

Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier advised and represented the SNCF group in an action brought by two trade unions, FTGE-CFDT and UFAC-CFDT, before the 34th chamber of the Paris judicial Court, a new chamber created in September 2024 and dedicated to social, economic and environmental regulation.

The plaintiffs criticized the SNCF group’s vigilance plan for failing to identify the social and environmental risks associated with the reorganization of the freight business in the context of an investigation by the European Commission. They asked for the vigilance plan to be amended, and for compensation for the damage suffered as a result of the alleged unlawfulness of the reorganization plan.

On February 13th, 2025, the Court dismissed all claims, considering in particular that:

• the claims to modify the vigilance plan lacked precision and detailed justification;
• the activities sold by SNCF as part of the reorganization plan did not have to be covered by its vigilance plan;
• Commercial companies are not bound to the French State’s sustainability commitments in the French ‘Climate and resilience’ Act n°2021-1104 of August 22nd, 2021;
• there is no evidence that the reorganization decision in question was made without consideration of the social and environmental issues referred to in article 1833 of the Civil Code.

This is the first ruling on the merits by the new 34th chamber of the Paris judicial Court on the subject of French duty of care. It provides valuable insights on corporate duty of care for French companies.

The ruling is also noteworthy in that it applies Article 1833 of the Civil Code, a text created by the French ‘Pacte’ Act no. 2019-486 of March 31st, 2019, §2 of which states that “the company is managed in its corporate interest, taking into consideration the social and environmental challenges of its activity”.

The Darrois team was led by Jean-Michel Darrois, Matthieu Brochier, Henri Savoie and François Kopf (partners), Stanislas Darrois and Tigran Mheryan. SNCF was also advised by Professor Marie-Anne Frison Roche.