Jean-Claude Chevrel v. SAS VEGAM and MSA

Reference :

RG 21/03510

Complaint date :

October 30, 2018

Status :

Final judgment

Place of jurisdiction :

France, Rennes

Plaintiffs types :

Technicians and Professional users

Plaintiffs names :

Jean-Claude Chevrel

Defendants :

SAS VEGAM, Mutualité Sociale Agricole des Portes de Bretagne

Lawyers for Health and Environmental Justice :

François Lafforgue, Hermine Baron

Case nature :

Social court

Type(s), Product(s), Active substance(s) :

Fluquinconazole, Tefluthrin, Guazatine triacetate

Requests :

To say and judge that the occupational disease of which the plaintiff is afflicted is the consequence of the inexcusable fault of his employer; to say that the pension which he receives must be increased to its maximum.

Name of the Court :

Appeal Court of Rennes, France

Jurisdiction level :

Appeal

Decision date :

November 15, 2023

Decision nature :

Positive

Decision content :

The Court ruled that the action for recognition of inexcusable fault brought by Mr Chevrel against the Vegam company was not time-barred; it upheld the judgment

Legal basis :

Court Ruling :

Link to the ruling

Summary :

On November 15, 2023, the Rennes Court of Appeal confirmed that the company Coralis (Vegam) had committed an inexcusable fault in the occupational illness of Jean-Claude Chevrel, a former employee of the company who developed Parkinson's disease after coming into contact with pesticides.

Jean-Claude Chevrel worked as a seed technician for Coralis from 1980. In contact with pesticides, he developed symptoms of an extra-pyramidal syndrome (Parkinson's disease), first reported in a medical certificate in 2008. In 2015, the agricultural social mutual fund Mutualité sociale agricole des Portes de Bretagne (MSA) accepted to assume his pathology as an occupational disease. In 2018, he applied to the MSA for recognition of his employer's inexcusable fault, and on October 30, 2018, filed a claim with the Ille-et-Vilaine Social Security Tribunal (TASS). In a ruling dated December 10, 2020, the Tribunal upheld the claim. The MSA and Vegam then appealed against this decision, on the grounds that the action for recognition of inexcusable fault was time-barred, and that inexcusable fault had not been characterized.

The Court of Appeal first noted that Jean-Claude Chevrel's action before the TASS had respected the two-year time limit and was therefore not time-barred. It then found that the company had committed an inexcusable fault by leaving its employee exposed to pesticides and other phytosanitary products without information, safety instructions or appropriate protection.

The Court of Appeal upheld the finding of inexcusable fault, as well as the maximum increase in the pension paid to Mr. Chevrel on the basis of a permanent partial disability rate of 60%,

Scientific references :

No scientifice reference for this case.