Council of State upholds decision to force Berck-sur-Mer building from Partouche ownership
The wrangle over ownership of the casino building in Berck-sur-Mer in Northern France moved a few steps closer to a conclusion following the latest ruling from the courts on the case involving the Partouche Group and the municipality of Berck-sur-Mer.
Following a ruling by the Council of State, the municipality of Pas-de-Calais has now repossessed the building, changed the locks, and handed over the keys to the Belgian group Infiniti Casinos, which won the new 12-year concession for the casino. The Partouche group opened the casino in Berck in 1991 and, in 1998, moved it into the old train station. It lost out in a tender of the licence to Infiniti last year.
In a decision issued on March 4, the Council of State rejected the group’s appeals against the ruling issued by the Lille Administrative Court and upheld the return of the property to the town. The ruling stipulated, among other things, the return of the building acquired by the Partouche Group in 1997 to the municipality by January 1, subject to a financial penalty.
In its appeal to the Court of Cassation, the Parisian group had requested the annulment of this ruling, and also that the administrative court be declared incompetent with the case referred to the Court of Jurisdictional Conflicts to decide the jurisdictional issue.
In this new ruling, the Council of State said: “It is solely within the jurisdiction of the administrative courts to determine whether movable or immovable property used for the operation of a concessionary public service should be considered as having been transferred into the assets of the public entity and due to revert to it free of charge at the end of the agreement. While the judicial authority may be called upon to resolve a serious difficulty relating to the identification of the owner of the property prior to the conclusion of the concession contract, this jurisdiction does not preclude the jurisdiction of the administrative courts to rule on the effects resulting, for this property, from the conclusion of the concession contract and, consequently, on its entry, pursuant to these rules, into the property of the public entity. Groupe Partouche and Jean Metz are only contesting the principle and the effects of the classification of the disputed building as a returnable asset, the ownership of which prior to the conclusion of the concession contract, is not the subject of any debate, this contestation falls within the sole jurisdiction of the administrative court.”
“The building in question, which was specially fitted out to accommodate the casino activity and related services provided for in the concession contract, is necessary for the operation of this public service. Groupe Partouche, which holds all of the capital of the company Jean Metz, to which it leased the building, in order to operate the concession activity, must be regarded as having consented to the allocation of this building to the operation of the service entailing its transfer into the assets of the municipality of Berck-sur-Mer. Neither the fact that this building was previously acquired from the municipality, nor that the judge of the summary proceedings of the Boulogne-sur-Mer judicial court prohibited the municipality from signing, having signed, receiving, requesting or publishing any document entailing the transfer of ownership of the property, are such as to constitute a serious dispute.”
“Partouche and Jean Metz are not entitled to seek the annulment of the order they are challenging.” Groupe Partouche and Jean Metz will also each have to pay €1,500 to the municipality of Berck-sur-Mer.
The order specifically prohibits the municipality of Berck-sur-Mer from taking actual possession, either personally or through an intermediary, of the property pending a final ruling from the trial judge on the ownership of the property.
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Council of State upholds decision to force Berck-sur-Mer building from Partouche ownership The wrangle over ownership of the casino building in Berck-sur-Mer in Northern France moved a few steps closer to a conclusion following the latest ruling from the courts on the case involving the Partouche Group and the municipality of Berck-sur-Mer. Following a ruling…
The post Infiniti finally has the keys to casino building in Berck-sur-Mer, but legal wrangle expected to continue appeared first on G3 Newswire.