Week of 22 to 28 June 2026
Case law
Civ. 3rd chamber, 25 June 2026, appeal No. 24-18.064, published in the Bulletin — The right of unilateral termination of a lump-sum contract available to the project owner under Article 1794 of the Civil Code, subject to full compensation of the contractor (expenses, work performed, lost profit), does not deprive the project owner of the possibility of terminating the contract under the ordinary rules on termination for non-performance (Articles 1224 and 1226 of the Civil Code) where the contractor’s breaches — delays, defective work, abandonment of the site — are sufficiently serious. The project owner therefore has two distinct routes to termination: termination without fault but with compensation under Article 1794, or termination for fault, at the project owner’s own risk but without compensation, with the burden on the project owner to establish the seriousness of the breaches if challenged.
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