{"id":2119915,"date":"2026-09-12T05:56:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T03:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/09\/12\/foreign-company-france-served-assignation-respond-defend-abroad\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T05:56:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T03:56:54","slug":"foreign-company-france-served-assignation-respond-defend-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/12\/foreign-company-france-served-assignation-respond-defend-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Your French Company Has Just Been Served (Assignation): How a Foreign Owner Responds, Meets the Deadline and Defends From Abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your French office forwards you a thick document covered in stamps. A <em>commissaire de justice<\/em> \u2014 the licensed process server the French called a <em>huissier de justice<\/em> until 2022 \u2014 has served your company with an <em>assignation<\/em>, the writ that opens a lawsuit in France. You are in London, New York or Dubai, the hearing is in Paris, Nanterre or Bobigny, and the paperwork gives you a deadline measured in days. Panic is understandable. Doing nothing is the one option you do not have: a French court can rule against your company even if nobody shows up, and that judgment can then be enforced against your French bank account while you are still deciding what to do. The good news is that French procedure gives a foreign owner real weapons \u2014 extra time for distance, strict formal requirements the claimant must meet, procedural defences that can stop a case before the merits, and a full right of appeal. This guide walks you through the document in your hands, the exact deadlines that apply to a defendant based abroad, and the defence playbook your French <em>avocat<\/em> (attorney) will deploy, so you can handle a French lawsuit from abroad without flying to Paris for every hearing.<\/p>\n<p><em>Statutory references in this article are quoted in the version in force on 12 September 2026. French court practice uses French terms throughout; each one is explained the first time it appears.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>I. Your French company has been served: what the assignation says and how fast you must move<\/h2>\n<h3>A. How to read the assignation the day it arrives<\/h3>\n<p>An <em>assignation<\/em> is not a judgment and it is not a negotiation letter. It is the formal act by which the claimant summons your company before a named court on a named date, and it sets the boundaries of the entire case: what the claimant asks for, on which legal grounds, and with which exhibits. French law lists what it must contain, and the list is long precisely so that a defendant served out of the blue can understand the case. Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042597344\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042597344\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 56 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, and I quote, &#8220;L&#8217;assignation contient \u00e0 peine de nullit\u00e9, outre les mentions prescrites pour les actes d&#8217;huissier de justice et celles \u00e9nonc\u00e9es \u00e0 l&#8217;article 54 : 1\u00b0 Les lieu, jour et heure de l&#8217;audience \u00e0 laquelle l&#8217;affaire sera appel\u00e9e ; 2\u00b0 Un expos\u00e9 des moyens en fait et en droit ; 3\u00b0 La liste des pi\u00e8ces sur lesquelles la demande est fond\u00e9e dans un bordereau qui lui est annex\u00e9 ; 4\u00b0 L&#8217;indication des modalit\u00e9s de comparution devant la juridiction et la pr\u00e9cision que, faute pour le d\u00e9fendeur de compara\u00eetre, il s&#8217;expose \u00e0 ce qu&#8217;un jugement soit rendu contre lui sur les seuls \u00e9l\u00e9ments fournis par son adversaire.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Read those four items as your intake checklist. First, the court and the date: the heading tells you whether you are summoned before the <em>tribunal judiciaire<\/em> (the general civil court) or the <em>tribunal de commerce<\/em> (the commercial court). That distinction matters because the two courts do not play by the same representation rules, and because a claimant who picks the wrong court hands you your first line of defence, as explained in Part II. Commercial disputes between traders, disputes about commercial companies and disputes about commercial acts belong to the commercial court: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000044078679\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000044078679\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article L.721-3 of the Commercial Code<\/a> provides, and I quote, &#8220;Les tribunaux de commerce connaissent : 1\u00b0 Des contestations relatives aux engagements entre commer\u00e7ants, entre artisans, entre \u00e9tablissements de cr\u00e9dit, entre soci\u00e9t\u00e9s de financement ou entre eux ; 2\u00b0 De celles relatives aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s commerciales ; 3\u00b0 De celles relatives aux actes de commerce entre toutes personnes.&#8221; If your French subsidiary, typically a SAS (a simplified joint-stock company, the flexible vehicle most foreign founders choose) or a SARL (a limited-liability company with a more rigid frame), is sued by a supplier over unpaid invoices, the commercial court is normally the right forum. If a former employee sues, the case belongs to the labour court instead, and an assignation sent to the wrong court is vulnerable from day one.<\/p>\n<p>Second, the claims and the legal reasoning: the writ must set out the facts and the legal arguments, not just a bare demand for money. A vague writ that says your company owes 80,000 euros without explaining which contract, which invoices and which clause is not a solid writ. Third, the exhibit list (<em>bordereau de pi\u00e8ces<\/em>): the claimant must attach a numbered list of the documents the claim relies on. Compare the list with what you actually received. Missing exhibits are a practical gift: your lawyer can demand them, and gaps in the claimant&#8217;s file often reveal a case built on shaky paperwork. Fourth, the how-to-appear section: it warns you that failing to appear exposes you to judgment on the claimant&#8217;s evidence alone, and, where representation by an <em>avocat<\/em> is compulsory, it must also contain two extra items. Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000039623508\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000039623508\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 752 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, and I quote, &#8220;Lorsque la repr\u00e9sentation par avocat est obligatoire, outre les mentions prescrites aux articles 54 et 56 , l&#8217;assignation contient \u00e0 peine de nullit\u00e9 : 1\u00b0 La constitution de l&#8217;avocat du demandeur ; 2\u00b0 Le d\u00e9lai dans lequel le d\u00e9fendeur est tenu de constituer avocat.&#8221; Every one of these mandatory mentions is sanctioned by nullity, which means a defective writ can be thrown out \u2014 but only if your side raises the defect properly, as Part II explains.<\/p>\n<p>Two practical points before you call your lawyer. Check where the writ was delivered. Service on a company is normally made at its <em>si\u00e8ge social<\/em> (registered office) as shown on the <em>Kbis<\/em>, the official registration certificate issued by the <em>greffe<\/em> (the clerk&#8217;s office of the commercial court). If your company moved offices and never updated its registration, the writ may have gone to the old address and been served to whoever was there \u2014 that does not make it disappear, but it affects how the court treats your absence. And note the date the court clerk (<em>greffe<\/em>) stamped the case: since the recent reforms, the hearing date is communicated by the <em>greffe<\/em> to the claimant on presentation of the draft writ, under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042597331\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042597331\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 751 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, so the timetable is court-driven from the start. Photograph or scan every page, keep the envelope with its postmark, and send the whole file to your French counsel the same day. The clock is already running.<\/p>\n<h3>B. Your real deadlines when you live abroad<\/h3>\n<p>The writ tells you to appoint an <em>avocat<\/em> within a short deadline \u2014 in the standard written procedure before the <em>tribunal judiciaire<\/em>, the official public-service guidance tells a served defendant to instruct a lawyer within 15 days, as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.service-public.gouv.fr\/particuliers\/vosdroits\/F1791\">service-public.fr page on the course of a civil trial<\/a> confirms. Treat that fortnight as your hard operating deadline even if your company is managed from abroad: everything else in your defence depends on having counsel constituted (<em>constitution d&#8217;avocat<\/em>) in time, because only your <em>avocat<\/em> can file pleadings, receive the opponent&#8217;s exhibits and speak to the court on your behalf. Before the <em>tribunal judiciaire<\/em>, representation is not optional. Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000039623478\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000039623478\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 760 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, and I quote, &#8220;Les parties sont, sauf disposition contraire, tenues de constituer avocat devant le tribunal judiciaire. La constitution de l&#8217;avocat emporte \u00e9lection de domicile.&#8221; That last sentence is practical gold for a foreign owner: once your lawyer is appointed, your company&#8217;s legal address for the whole case becomes your lawyer&#8217;s office, and nothing important will be sent to an empty mailbox again. Before the commercial court, by contrast, the parties may appear in person or through any authorised representative, which is one reason commercial cases are often cheaper to defend \u2014 but the procedural traps there are just as sharp, so keep a lawyer in both forums.<\/p>\n<p>Living outside France then buys you extra time on top of every procedural deadline. This is the <em>d\u00e9lai de distance<\/em>, the distance extension, and it is automatic: you do not have to ask the judge for it. Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000034747123\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000034747123\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 643 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, and I quote, &#8220;Lorsque la demande est port\u00e9e devant une juridiction qui a son si\u00e8ge en France m\u00e9tropolitaine, les d\u00e9lais de comparution, d&#8217;appel, d&#8217;opposition, de tierce opposition dans l&#8217;hypoth\u00e8se pr\u00e9vue \u00e0 l&#8217;article 586 alin\u00e9a 3, de recours en r\u00e9vision et de pourvoi en cassation sont augment\u00e9s de : 1. Un mois pour les personnes qui demeurent en Guadeloupe, en Guyane, \u00e0 la Martinique, \u00e0 La R\u00e9union, \u00e0 Mayotte, \u00e0 Saint-Barth\u00e9lemy, \u00e0 Saint-Martin, \u00e0 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, en Polyn\u00e9sie fran\u00e7aise, dans les \u00eeles Wallis et Futuna, en Nouvelle-Cal\u00e9donie et dans les Terres australes et antarctiques fran\u00e7aises ; 2. Deux mois pour celles qui demeurent \u00e0 l&#8217;\u00e9tranger.&#8221; In plain terms: if you live abroad, your time limits for appearing, appealing, and petitioning the Court of Cassation are all extended by two full months. A one-month appeal deadline becomes three months for a foreign-based party. The Court of Cassation applies this rule strictly in favour of parties outside France: in a ruling of 10 October 2018 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.courdecassation.fr\/decision\/5fca845c7a2d0874d482eda3\">Civ. 1re, pourvoi n\u00b0 17-14.401, ECLI:FR:CCASS:2018:C100616<\/a>), it held, and I quote, &#8220;\u00e0 l&#8217;\u00e9gard des parties domicili\u00e9es \u00e0 l&#8217;\u00e9tranger, le d\u00e9lai de pourvoi de deux mois augment\u00e9 de deux mois court du jour de la remise r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement faite au parquet et non de la date de la remise aux int\u00e9ress\u00e9s d&#8217;une copie de l&#8217;acte par les autorit\u00e9s \u00e9trang\u00e8res&#8221;. Two lessons in one sentence: the distance extension is real, and the clock for a party abroad starts from the formal handover of the document to the French public prosecutor&#8217;s office (<em>parquet<\/em>), not from the day the foreign authorities physically hand you the copy.<\/p>\n<p>That reference to the <em>parquet<\/em> reveals how service abroad actually works, and why you should check it. When the defendant usually resides abroad, the process server does not simply post the writ overseas. Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000039389942\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000039389942\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 684 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, and I quote, &#8220;L&#8217;acte destin\u00e9 \u00e0 \u00eatre notifi\u00e9 \u00e0 une personne ayant sa r\u00e9sidence habituelle \u00e0 l&#8217;\u00e9tranger est remis au parquet, sauf dans les cas o\u00f9 un r\u00e8glement europ\u00e9en ou un trait\u00e9 international autorise l&#8217;huissier de justice ou le greffe \u00e0 transmettre directement cet acte \u00e0 son destinataire ou \u00e0 une autorit\u00e9 comp\u00e9tente de l&#8217;Etat de destination.&#8221; In practice, inside the European Union the writ usually travels through the EU Service Regulation directly to the competent authority of your country, and outside the EU through the 1965 Hague Service Convention or diplomatic channels \u2014 and each of these routes leaves a paper trail your lawyer can audit. If the trail is broken, the claimant has a problem, not you: where it is not established that the recipient learned of the document in good time, the court cannot rule on the merits unless three cumulative conditions are met \u2014 proper transmission channel, at least six months elapsed since dispatch, and no proof of delivery despite steps taken with the foreign authorities. That triple lock is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000034747131\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000034747131\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 688 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, which states, and I quote, &#8220;S&#8217;il n&#8217;est pas \u00e9tabli que le destinataire d&#8217;un acte en a eu connaissance en temps utile, le juge saisi de l&#8217;affaire ne peut statuer au fond que si les conditions ci-apr\u00e8s sont r\u00e9unies : 1\u00b0 L&#8217;acte a \u00e9t\u00e9 transmis selon les modes pr\u00e9vus par les r\u00e8glement europ\u00e9en ou les trait\u00e9s internationaux applicables ou, \u00e0 d\u00e9faut de ceux-ci, selon les prescriptions des articles 684 \u00e0 687 ; 2\u00b0 Un d\u00e9lai d&#8217;au moins six mois s&#8217;est \u00e9coul\u00e9 depuis l&#8217;envoi de l&#8217;acte ; 3\u00b0 Aucun justificatif de remise de l&#8217;acte n&#8217;a pu \u00eatre obtenu nonobstant les d\u00e9marches effectu\u00e9es aupr\u00e8s des autorit\u00e9s comp\u00e9tentes de l&#8217;Etat o\u00f9 l&#8217;acte doit \u00eatre remis.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There is one important exception to that protection, and a foreign owner must know it: urgent interim relief. The same Article 688 ends with the sentence, and I quote, &#8220;Toutefois, le juge peut ordonner imm\u00e9diatement les mesures provisoires ou conservatoires n\u00e9cessaires \u00e0 la sauvegarde des droits du demandeur.&#8221; The Court of Cassation confirmed the point on 10 July 2025 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.courdecassation.fr\/decision\/686f564d3f11a71c18e86a82\">Civ. 2e, pourvois n\u00b0 23-11.006 et 23-11.748, ECLI:FR:CCASS:2025:C200693<\/a>), quashing an appeal ruling in a case where defendants living in Switzerland had been summoned at very short notice: an interim judge hearing a request for a protective measure \u2014 there, the appointment of an administrator \u2014 may, and I quote again, &#8220;ordonner imm\u00e9diatement les mesures provisoires ou conservatoires n\u00e9cessaires \u00e0 la sauvegarde des droits du demandeur&#8221;, even without proof that the writ reached the person abroad. Translation for your case: if the claimant only wants money at the end of a full trial, defective service abroad can paralyse the case for months. But if the claimant asks the emergency judge (<em>juge des r\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9s<\/em>) to freeze your account, appoint an expert or stop a delivery today, the judge can act first and check service later. An assignation marked <em>r\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9 d&#8217;heure \u00e0 heure<\/em> \u2014 an emergency summons with hours of notice \u2014 must therefore be treated as a fire alarm, whatever country you are in.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, understand what happens if you ignore the writ, because the instinct to file it away is the costliest mistake in this guide. A French court does not drop a case when the defendant stays silent; it judges it. Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410732\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410732\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 472 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, and I quote, &#8220;Si le d\u00e9fendeur ne compara\u00eet pas, il est n\u00e9anmoins statu\u00e9 sur le fond. Le juge ne fait droit \u00e0 la demande que dans la mesure o\u00f9 il l&#8217;estime r\u00e9guli\u00e8re, recevable et bien fond\u00e9e.&#8221; The judge will still check the claim, but on the claimant&#8217;s papers alone, with nobody pointing out the inflated invoice, the expired deadline or the missing signature. And the resulting judgment is immediately dangerous: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410733\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410733\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 473<\/a> provides, and I quote, &#8220;Lorsque le d\u00e9fendeur ne compara\u00eet pas, le jugement est rendu par d\u00e9faut si la d\u00e9cision est en dernier ressort et si la citation n&#8217;a pas \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9livr\u00e9e \u00e0 personne. Le jugement est r\u00e9put\u00e9 contradictoire lorsque la d\u00e9cision est susceptible d&#8217;appel ou lorsque la citation a \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9livr\u00e9e \u00e0 la personne du d\u00e9fendeur.&#8221; A judgment <em>r\u00e9put\u00e9 contradictoire<\/em> \u2014 deemed adversarial \u2014 can only be attacked by appeal, not by the simpler remedy of <em>opposition<\/em> available against a true default judgment. Worse, first-instance judgments are enforceable immediately: under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000039623241\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000039623241\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 514<\/a>, and I quote, &#8220;Les d\u00e9cisions de premi\u00e8re instance sont de droit ex\u00e9cutoires \u00e0 titre provisoire \u00e0 moins que la loi ou la d\u00e9cision rendue n&#8217;en dispose autrement.&#8221; Your opponent can send a <em>commissaire de justice<\/em> to seize your French bank balance on the basis of a judgment you never defended, while your appeal is still pending. Silence is never a strategy. Now here is the strategy.<\/p>\n<h2>II. How a foreign owner defends a French case without flying to Paris<\/h2>\n<h3>A. Instruct an avocat and attack procedure before merits<\/h3>\n<p>Your first instruction is the simplest: put a French <em>avocat<\/em> on the file within days, give a single contact person in your team, and stop communicating with the claimant directly. Anything you write to the other side from abroad \u2014 an angry email admitting part of the debt, a proposal to pay in instalments, a message quibbling over the amount \u2014 can end up exhibited against you, translated and read to the court. Your lawyer becomes your voice and your mailbox: before the <em>tribunal judiciaire<\/em> the appointment is compulsory under Article 760, and the election of domicile at counsel&#8217;s office means deadlines and exhibits flow to a professional who diaries them. Choose counsel admitted to practise in France and used to acting for foreign-owned companies: they will know how to take instructions in English, handle documents across time zones, and explain each French step before it happens. If your group already works with a French firm for company secretarial matters \u2014 the annual accounts, the <em>Kbis<\/em> updates, the filings with the <em>greffe<\/em> \u2014 ask them to coordinate, because the litigator will need the company&#8217;s corporate documents fast. Practical tip from the publisher&#8217;s companion guides: foreign owners who keep their French company&#8217;s paperwork in order, from the bank account file to the first hire&#8217;s file, defend faster and cheaper, as our <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/03\/setting-up-company-france-foreign-founder-bank-account-kbis-vat-first-hire\/\">pillar guide to setting up and running a French company as a foreign founder<\/a> explains. Gather now the contract at stake, the full invoice chain, the delivery proofs, the email thread, and the names of the two or three people who know the facts \u2014 your lawyer will turn that raw material into <em>conclusions<\/em>, the written pleadings in which each side&#8217;s arguments must appear.<\/p>\n<p>The second instruction surprises many common-law clients: in France, the strongest opening moves are usually procedural, not substantive. French procedure forces the defendant to raise procedural objections first, in a strict order, and rewards those who do. The building blocks are threefold. An <em>exception de proc\u00e9dure<\/em> asks the court to declare the proceedings irregular or extinguished, or to stay them \u2014 wrong court, defective writ, lack of capacity. A <em>fin de non-recevoir<\/em> asks the court to throw out the claim without examining the merits because the claimant has no right to sue \u2014 no standing, no interest, time-barred, already judged. And the two must be played in the right sequence. Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410178\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410178\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 73 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, and I quote, &#8220;Constitue une exception de proc\u00e9dure tout moyen qui tend soit \u00e0 faire d\u00e9clarer la proc\u00e9dure irr\u00e9guli\u00e8re ou \u00e9teinte, soit \u00e0 en suspendre le cours.&#8221; Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410229\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410229\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 122<\/a>, and I quote, &#8220;Constitue une fin de non-recevoir tout moyen qui tend \u00e0 faire d\u00e9clarer l&#8217;adversaire irrecevable en sa demande, sans examen au fond, pour d\u00e9faut de droit d&#8217;agir, tel le d\u00e9faut de qualit\u00e9, le d\u00e9faut d&#8217;int\u00e9r\u00eat, la prescription, le d\u00e9lai pr\u00e9fix, la chose jug\u00e9e.&#8221; And the ordering rule, which traps unwary defendants, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410179\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410179\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 74<\/a>, and I quote: &#8220;Les exceptions doivent, \u00e0 peine d&#8217;irrecevabilit\u00e9, \u00eatre soulev\u00e9es simultan\u00e9ment et avant toute d\u00e9fense au fond ou fin de non-recevoir.&#8221; Raise your procedural objections together, at the very start, before arguing the merits \u2014 argue the invoice is wrong first, and you may lose the right to say the court has no jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>Applied to your served company, that framework produces a concrete checklist your lawyer will work through in the first weeks. Was the writ formally valid? Every missing compulsory mention identified in Part I \u2014 court, date, factual and legal grounds, exhibit list, appearance warning, counsel&#8217;s constitution and your deadline \u2014 is a potential nullity, and nullities for formal defects follow a defendant-friendly rule: the claimant&#8217;s act stands unless the law expressly provides for nullity or a substantial or public-policy formality was breached, and even then the party invoking nullity must prove the harm the irregularity caused. That is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410221\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410221\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 114 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, and I quote: &#8220;Aucun acte de proc\u00e9dure ne peut \u00eatre d\u00e9clar\u00e9 nul pour vice de forme si la nullit\u00e9 n&#8217;en est pas express\u00e9ment pr\u00e9vue par la loi, sauf en cas d&#8217;inobservation d&#8217;une formalit\u00e9 substantielle ou d&#8217;ordre public. La nullit\u00e9 ne peut \u00eatre prononc\u00e9e qu&#8217;\u00e0 charge pour l&#8217;adversaire qui l&#8217;invoque de prouver le grief que lui cause l&#8217;irr\u00e9gularit\u00e9, m\u00eame lorsqu&#8217;il s&#8217;agit d&#8217;une formalit\u00e9 substantielle ou d&#8217;ordre public.&#8221; So your lawyer will frame each defect with its concrete prejudice: the missing exhibit list deprived you of the ability to prepare, the wrong hearing date made you miss the bus, the absent legal grounds left you guessing what you are accused of. Was the right court seized? An employment dispute sent to the commercial court, a claim covered by a jurisdiction clause sending disputes to London or to arbitration, a defendant with no French establishment sued in a court with no link to the dispute \u2014 each is an incompetence objection to be raised <em>in limine litis<\/em>, at the threshold, before any defence on the merits. Is the claim even receivable? Limitation (<em>prescription<\/em>) kills many stale supplier claims: five years is the default in commercial matters, and your lawyer will count from the invoice due date, not from when the claimant finally woke up. Lack of standing, lack of interest, a matter already judged (<em>chose jug\u00e9e<\/em>) \u2014 each ends the case without the court ever deciding who was right.<\/p>\n<p>A Court of Cassation ruling shows how brutally effective a <em>fin de non-recevoir<\/em> can be when the missing element blocks any conviction on the merits. In a commercial-chamber decision of 28 October 2008 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.courdecassation.fr\/decision\/6079db169ba5988459c5be6e\">Com., pourvoi n\u00b0 07-16.056, ECLI:FR:CCASS:2008:CO01102<\/a>), the Court approved judges who had refused to convict company directors pursued for the company&#8217;s debts without the mandatory prior step, holding, and I quote, &#8220;la convocation du dirigeant de la personne morale, poursuivi en paiement des dettes sociales, pour \u00eatre entendu personnellement par le tribunal, est un pr\u00e9alable obligatoire aux d\u00e9bats ; que l&#8217;omission de cet acte qui fait obstacle \u00e0 toute condamnation constitue une fin de non-recevoir&#8221;. The context was directors&#8217; liability, but the mechanism is exactly what your lawyer hunts for in your file: a missing prerequisite that bars any sentence, whatever the merits. In the standard track before the <em>tribunal judiciaire<\/em>, these procedural battles are fought before a dedicated case-management judge. Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000054032059\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000054032059\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 789 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a>, and I quote, &#8220;Le juge de la mise en \u00e9tat est, \u00e0 compter de sa d\u00e9signation et, jusqu&#8217;\u00e0 son dessaisissement, seul comp\u00e9tent, \u00e0 l&#8217;exclusion de toute autre formation du tribunal, pour : 1\u00b0 Statuer sur les exceptions de proc\u00e9dure, les demandes form\u00e9es en application de l&#8217;article 47 et les incidents mettant fin \u00e0 l&#8217;instance&#8221;. The <em>juge de la mise en \u00e9tat<\/em> \u2014 the judge who supervises the <em>mise en \u00e9tat<\/em>, the preparation phase during which lawyers exchange <em>conclusions<\/em> and exhibits \u2014 rules alone on your procedural objections before the case ever reaches a trial panel. Win there, on nullity, incompetence or inadmissibility, and the lawsuit dies in months instead of years, for a fraction of the cost of a full merits fight. That is why the intake checklist in Part I matters: every defect you spot on day one becomes ammunition for day thirty.<\/p>\n<h3>B. Settle, defend and keep control of the judgment<\/h3>\n<p>Procedural objections are your shield; the merits are the battle itself, and most French business cases are won in the exhibit file long before the hearing. French civil litigation is written litigation: the court decides on the basis of the <em>conclusions<\/em> exchanged and the numbered exhibits attached to them, with short oral pleadings that summarise rather than replace the papers. Your job as the foreign owner is therefore to feed your lawyer a complete, ordered, honest file \u2014 and to do it early, because late exhibits can be discarded and last-minute surprises irritate the bench. Build the file around the claimant&#8217;s own story: take each invoice, each delivery note, each email the writ relies on, and match it with your document. The delivery that arrived two weeks late. The email in which the claimant accepted a discount for the defect. The retention-of-title clause nobody noticed. The second contract, signed six months later, that rescheduled the debt the claimant now presents as due. Every French commercial file lives or dies on paper contemporaneous with the events; reconstructions written after the writ arrived carry little weight. If a document is in English, have it translated by a sworn translator (<em>traducteur asserment\u00e9<\/em>) \u2014 the court works in French, and your lawyer will tell you which pieces truly need a certified translation and which can be summarised. If key witnesses sit abroad, collect dated written statements (<em>attestations de t\u00e9moin<\/em>) in the formal regulatory format now, while memories are fresh, rather than hoping someone will fly to testify in eighteen months.<\/p>\n<p>While the file is being built, keep settlement on the table from day one \u2014 not as weakness, but as arithmetic. A full first-instance case before a French court commonly runs twelve to twenty-four months from writ to judgment, plus the appeal if either side challenges, plus enforcement skirmishes. Your costs include your lawyer&#8217;s fees, translations, possibly a court-appointed expert, management time across time zones, and the contingent liability sitting in your French subsidiary&#8217;s accounts, which your auditor may ask you to provision. Against that, weigh what a negotiated exit costs: a discount on the principal, a payment schedule, a mutual termination of the contract with a confidentiality clause, each formalised in a written settlement (<em>transaction<\/em>) that ends the dispute with the authority of a final judgment and, crucially, can include the claimant&#8217;s waiver of further claims. Settlement talks can run in parallel with the proceedings \u2014 the <em>mise en \u00e9tat<\/em> timetable continues while you negotiate, so you lose nothing \u2014 and they can be structured through mediation at any stage, with the judge&#8217;s approval if proceedings are already pending. One caution for foreign owners: never pay the claimed amount informally &#8220;to make it go away&#8221; without a written settlement covering the whole dispute, interest, costs and waiver. An unjustified payment without paperwork is routinely exhibited as an admission that the debt was due, and the claimant then sues for the balance.<\/p>\n<p>If the case goes to judgment, your defence does not end with the ruling \u2014 it enters its most technical phase, and this is where foreign owners lose winnable cases by missing deadlines. First, read the judgment for what it orders and what it permits. Because first-instance decisions are provisionally enforceable as of right under Article 514, the claimant can enforce immediately unless the court set that enforcement aside with reasons \u2014 which the official guidance confirms the judge may do on its own motion or at a party&#8217;s request, as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.service-public.gouv.fr\/particuliers\/vosdroits\/F1791\">service-public.fr trial guide<\/a> explains. If enforcement would cause manifestly excessive consequences \u2014 seizure of the operating account that pays your French salaries, forced sale of essential equipment \u2014 your <em>avocat<\/em> can urgently ask the first president of the court of appeal to stay provisional enforcement while the appeal runs. Second, calendar the appeal: one month in contentious matters under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410858\/\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000006410858\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 538 of the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a> (&#8220;Le d\u00e9lai de recours par une voie ordinaire est d&#8217;un mois en mati\u00e8re contentieuse ; il est de quinze jours en mati\u00e8re gracieuse&#8221;), extended by the two-month distance period of Article 643 when you are abroad \u2014 three months in total for a foreign-based party, counted from proper service of the judgment, with the 2018 Court of Cassation ruling above confirming that service abroad runs from handover to the <em>parquet<\/em>. The appeal re-examines facts and law fully, so exhibits you omitted at first instance can still be produced, within limits your lawyer will manage. Third, if the judgment was rendered <em>par d\u00e9faut<\/em> in the strict sense of Article 473 \u2014 last-resort decision served on someone other than you in person \u2014 the remedy of <em>opposition<\/em> sends the case back before the same court that ruled, often faster than an appeal. Fourth, keep parallel risks in view: a claimant who wins may also publish the judgment, claim the Article 700 procedural indemnity the Cassation courts routinely award (3,000 euros in the July 2025 ruling cited above), and pursue your French assets while you appeal. And if your dispute sits inside a wider French compliance picture \u2014 a tax inspection running at the same time, for instance \u2014 coordinate the two defences rather than letting each lawyer discover the other mid-case; foreign owners facing a simultaneous fiscal front will find the method in our <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/08\/foreign-company-france-tax-audit-notice-verification-defence-abroad\/\">guide to answering a French tax audit from abroad<\/a>. The through-line is simple: every French judgment tells you, on its last page, which remedies exist and within which time \u2014 have your lawyer translate that page the day it arrives, diary every deadline with the distance extension, and decide the next step within a week, not a quarter.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>A French <em>assignation<\/em> served on your company is a summons, not a sentence. Read it the day it arrives against the four mandatory mentions of Article 56, hand it to a French <em>avocat<\/em> within days so the fifteen-day constitution deadline never becomes an issue, and let the distance extension of Article 643 work for you instead of discovering it too late. Audit how the writ reached you \u2014 through the EU Regulation, the Hague Convention or the <em>parquet<\/em> \u2014 because defective service abroad can stall a merits ruling for six months or more, while remembering that an emergency judge can still order protective measures immediately. Strike first on procedure, in the order Article 74 imposes: nullity for formal defects with proven prejudice under Article 114, wrong court, then inadmissibility under Article 122, all before the <em>juge de la mise en \u00e9tat<\/em>. Build the merits file on contemporaneous paper, keep a documented settlement path open, and if judgment comes, appeal within the extended deadline and seek a stay of provisional enforcement before the seizure hits your account. Run that sequence and you will defend a French lawsuit the way French litigators do \u2014 from the file, on time, and from anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n<h2>Need a quick opinion on your case.<\/h2>\n<p>Call <a href=\"tel:+33646605822\">+33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> for a telephone consultation within 48 hours with an attorney of the firm. For a written review of your writ and deadlines, use our <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/formulaire-de-contact\/\">contact page<\/a> and attach the assignation you received.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Served with a French assignation? Deadlines, distance extensions, service defects, procedural defences and appeal strategy for foreign owners defending a French lawsuit from abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80314,80313],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2119915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decryptage","category-doing-business-in-france"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Your French Company Has Just Been Served (Assignation): How a Foreign Owner Responds, Meets the Deadline and Defends From Abroad - Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen, Real Estate and Business Law Attorney in Paris<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/12\/foreign-company-france-served-assignation-respond-defend-abroad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your French Company Has Just Been Served (Assignation): How a Foreign Owner Responds, Meets the Deadline and Defends From Abroad\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Served with a French assignation? 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