Cour de cassation, First Civil Division, April 14, 2021, n°19-22.236

Montréal Convention of 1999 for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air
Warsaw Convention of October 12
1929. Amended 1955
Bruxelles 1 Bis 1215/2012.

28 of the Warsaw Convention
17 of Montreal

France

Cour de cassation, First Civil Division

Ms. Anne-Marie Batut

The Indonesian State is a third party to the European Union. Therefore, it does not meet the conditions for the application of Brussels I bis and the jurisdiction rules cannot be applied to the facts of the case. The rule of co-defendants does not justify the competence of the French courts regarding Air Asia. The Court of Cassation recalls that the Warsaw Convention is exclusive and binding. Thus, it is not possible to use other Conventions or to derogate from them by internal rules. The rule of co-defendants does not justify the jurisdiction of French courts over a company located in a third country.

That it follows from this text that the planned amount of compensation due by the carrier in the event of destruction, loss or damage to checked baggage does not constitute a fixed amount but a maximum, so that the traveler must establish the reality, within this limit, of the damage suffered, the burden of proof being reversed when a special declaration of interest has been made;