Commercial agency: The Metz Court of Appeal requires the principal to invoke the serious fault of which he was aware at the time of the breach of the contract (Villars Maître Chocolatier / Y & CO)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. The serious misconduct of the commercial agent, depriving him, at the time of the termination of the contract, of any right to compensation and of any notice period, gives rise to a lively dispute not only as to its characterization but also as to the moment at which it may be invoked by the principal. The judgment under comment - the second referring court after a new cassation in this long case (Com., 18 Oct. 2016, no. 15-10375) - completes the case-law solutions on this question. Facts. A commercial agency contract was concluded in 2001 between a principal, a chocolate producer, and the company Y & Co, a distributor. Although the agreement initially