Commercial litigation and industrial risks

Our Business Litigation and Dispute Resolution team is a partner in securing the interests of its clients in all aspects of their activities: negotiation, execution and compliance with commercial contracts; management of the termination of established commercial relationships; protection of the company’s know-how and data in the event of acts of unfair competition; protection of movable or immovable assets.

Life of the contract: negotiation, execution, breach, contractual liability

Our team is experienced in the negotiation of commercial contracts and, as such, assists many of LERINS’ clients in the conclusion of all types of agreements: general terms and conditions of sale, supply or procurement contracts, partnership contracts, distribution contracts, agent contracts, etc.

This mastery of contracts, coupled with our knowledge of litigation, enables us to anticipate the difficulties of execution that may arise from ambiguous drafting and to better understand the chances of success of litigation in contractual matters.

We assist our clients in their litigation at all stages of the life of their contracts, in all types of sectors of activity (agri-food, health, IT, tourism, etc.) and industry (medical devices, automobile, aeronautics, railways, etc.):

• negotiations and abusive breach of contract,
• unforeseen circumstances, price renegotiations,
• enforcement actions,
• complex recoveries (taking of securities, protective measures at national as well as cross-border or international level, seizures, etc.)
• asserting contractual liability arising from poor performance or non-performance of agreements,
• anticipation and management of the consequences of the termination of established commercial relationships,
• breach of commercial agent contracts and management of the resulting compensation.

Unfair competition

The principles of loyalty and morality in business life oblige economic actors to be particularly attentive to compliance with the rules in this area, particularly in cases of actual or alleged acts of unfair competition, which may result in the disorganization of a company through the massive poaching of its key employees, acts of parasitism, appropriation of customer files or know-how, or denigration.

Our team has extensive experience in all types of legal actions to fight against these acts of unfair competition, or to defend its clients when some of their competitors attack them on this type of basis, whether by way of :

• interim protective measures to put an end to an unlawful disturbance or to prevent imminent damage,
• evidentiary summary proceedings to obtain authorization to seize compromising documents from the adversary that could be used in an action on the merits, or to contest this type of measure,
• seizure of documents,
• defense of the e-reputation,
• actions for compensation for damages

Public or private works contracts

Our team has also developed a particular expertise in public and private works contracts.
We are thus able to assist our clients who are victims of a breach of the principle of equality between bidders in the context of invitations to tender, or of the disrespect of the criteria defined by the contracting authority for the selection of the best bidder.
We are able to defend the interests of companies that have been subjected to this type of practice, whether before the judicial courts or the administrative courts.

Commercial leases, real estate

A company’s premises often constitute its first operating asset and are therefore crucial to enable it to carry out its activity efficiently and serenely.

They may also belong to real estate companies or private owners, for whom the preservation of the profitability of their investment is essential.

As these premises are most of the time subject to commercial leases which represent a financial commitment of at least 9 years, the importance of this type of contract, subject to very specific and complex regulations, should not be overlooked.

Our team includes specialists in real estate law, and more particularly in commercial leases, who are able to assist our clients in negotiating this type of contract, as well as in their execution and termination difficulties (whether amicable or judicial), and to conduct the related litigation, whether for lessors or lessees:

• summary proceedings for the acquisition of resolutory clauses and eviction;
• summary proceedings for expert appraisal;
• actions for judicial determination of renewal rents;

Typical missions :

• Advice and assistance in the context of a procedure for the cancellation of an ERP integration contract for error, fraud and breach of the pre-contractual obligation to provide information
• Counsel and representation before various jurisdictions of a French engineering company, having been part of a group of companies awarded a contract for the supply and installation of terrestrial telecommunication dams in the Middle East, and requesting payment by the lead contractor for the portion of its services performed, in view of the latter’s contractual breaches, with recourse to the guarantee granted by its foreign parent company via a comfort letter
• Counsel and representation of a luxury travel agency in a payment dispute with its Hong Kong service provider in charge of land-based incoming services
• Counsel and representation before the French courts of a Spanish company, commercial agent for the Iberian Peninsula for 10 years of a French company, in a dispute related to the termination without notice of its commercial agency contract, under the pretext of the change in the shareholding of the French principal
• Counsel and representation of an air carrier company in a dispute to resolve the sale of an aircraft to a Hungarian company which was never delivered, with seizure of a foreign aircraft on French territory to secure the return of the price
• Counsel and defense for several years of a U.S. digital platform in its litigation in France due to content published on the website it hosts
• Counsel and representation before the French administrative courts of a U.S. company contesting the award to a competitor of a call for tenders by the Île-de-France region for the provision of ticketing services in connection with the construction of the new metro lines 16, 17 and 18, as a result of rating criteria deemed discriminatory and not allowing the selection of the most competitive offer for the local authority