On 6 November 2024, the French Supreme Court ruled on a number of appeals concerning the enforcement of the ICC arbitration award in the Devas v. Antrix case. The French Supreme Court confirmed the previous position of the Paris Court of Appeal, expressed in rulings dated March 22, 2022 and June 28, 2022, which had granted exequatur to the ICC award.
In its analysis, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected the ground for annulment that the arbitration agreement had provided for ad hoc arbitration rather than arbitration under the aegis of the ICC. The Paris Court of Appeal also concluded that neither the liquidator of Devas nor the company’s American shareholders could intervene in the exequatur proceedings in France. With regard to the liquidator, the Court of Appeal ruled that his authority to act on behalf of Devas depended on the Indian judgments pronouncing the liquidation of the company. As these judgments were not granted exequatur in France, the liquidator’s appointment could not take effect. With regard to the Devas shareholders, the Court of Appeal ruled that the French Code of Civil Procedure did not allow them to intervene in actions relating to the enforcement of an award.
The Court of Cassation upheld the appeal ruling, on the grounds that the liquidator cannot act in place of the legal representatives of a company until the judgment appointing them has been granted exequatur in France.
