OUR EXPERTISES
Grenier Avocats regularly intervenes in product liability litigation (hidden defects, defective products, industrial risks).
A manufacturer-seller or an industrialist may incur liability in the event of damage to persons or property, caused by its products or services as well as during the operation of its activity.
Our firm is regularly commissioned by insurers as well as by policyholders directly in order to provide them with all its experience, both in the pre-litigation phase (setting up of crisis cells: communication, withdrawal and recall of dangerous products) and in litigation phase in order to defend their interests in the event of claims that may take on a serious nature and cause significant damage, particularly on a global scale.
The search for the technical causes at the origin of a disaster is often complex and requires a regular practice of the legal expertise of which the team of the Cabinet is impregnated who works in close collaboration with technical and financial experts.
The claims we deal with on a regular basis are varied and we operate in all sectors of the industry.
These can be industrial accidents of any kind (explosions, fires, leaks, oil spills, collapses, shipwrecks, pollution, nuclear accidents), malfunctions or performance defects of a product or even contamination of agricultural products. -food or pharmaceuticals.
Examples of industrial risks:
● The Firm supports a company that carried out leak tests on litigious tanks intended to receive liquids in a new paint manufacturing plant in the Paris region that was the subject of a judicial expertise.
● Following a serious explosion in a biofuel production plant, the operator of the latter initiated a liability action against the companies involved in the construction and maintenance of this plant. Our firm ensures the defense of the control office which had been entrusted with the mission of determining the zones at risk of explosion.
● The Firm defends the interests of a vehicle manufacturer following an accident likely to call into question the design of a type of vehicle.
● The Firm was commissioned by a manufacturer of cooling equipment as part of a litigation expertise relating to disorders affecting several refrigeration networks of a logistics platform assigned to the mass distribution of food products.
● The firm represents the interests of a company that carried out the initial verification of the electrical installations of a hydraulic turbine of a dam.
● The firm represents the interests of a company which had a project management assistance and environmental assessment mission on land in the context of a dispute opposing it in particular to the owner following the discovery of pollution of the floors.
● During a demolition/reconstruction operation of an office building, a fire broke out during the intervention of several companies (sealing operations/work in hot spots) and caused a work stoppage and significant property damage. The firm defends the Safety and Health Protection Coordinator
● A serious fire occurred on the site of an adhesive tape and coating manufacturer causing the total destruction of certain buildings on the site, equipment and the pollution of the surrounding water. Our Firm defends the auditor of electrical installations.
● The Firm defends a railway maintenance company in the context of legal proceedings initiated following the occurrence of a derailment incident of a freight train on a local railway.
Grenier Avocats advises its clients in the prevention and management of their ethical risks (e.g. corruption, tax evasion, environmental damages, human rights violations…) through audits, the drafting of a code of conduct, risk mapping, the implementation of a whistleblower system, assistance during controls by national and international regulatory authorities such as the French Anticorruption Agency…
To find out more, download our Ethics and Compliance brochure (fr).
The Firm supports companies subject to the Sapin II law as well as companies not subject to the Sapin II law but which have chosen to set up prevention mechanisms.
Examples of ethics and compliance:
● The firm assisted a large French industrial group (specializing in the control and management of technical, human and environmental risks) in the implementation, in France and abroad, of its program for the prevention and detection of corruption, made compulsory by the Sapin II law.
● In the context of M&A operations, the firm is regularly questioned to carry out compliance audits.
● The firm led the follow-up, for the head office of a French group, of complaints against subsidiaries for suspected acts of corruption and fraud.
Grenier Avocats has solid expertise in insurance legal treatment. He regularly works on insurance issues in advice and litigation, both in France and internationally, through his network of lawyers specializing in insurance law.
Grenier Avocats is renowned for auditing insurance policies and insurance programs, particularly international ones.
Examples of insurance and reinsurance:
● Following the robbery and kidnapping of an Armenian-American media personality, businesswoman, producer, fashion designer, the latter was robbed of high-value jewelry worth millions of dollars . In addition to defending the star in the criminal proceedings aimed at convicting the perpetrators of these crimes, our firm was also mandated by the US insurer of this media personality, a leading global insurance organization, to exercise civil remedies to recover this multi-million dollar jewelry theft. This procedure, which gave rise to a judicial expertise, aims in particular to determine whether or not others than the perpetrators of the crime have a responsibility in the course of the events: the company which managed the hotel in which this American media personality was staying at the time of the facts; the company that was responsible for ensuring the security of the hotel; or even the company which was responsible for transporting the star during his stay in France.
● In the context of claims between insurers and reinsurers of international programs following compensation for the victims of a fatal train derailment in California, the firm was mandated by an American insurer to pursue these claims.
● The firm advised an insurance broker on the interpretation of the business interruption clause in insurance policies taken out in France and the exclusion of coverage due to COVID-19.
● The Firm has been mandated by French and foreign insurers to organize their defense following claims in the United States relating to food products.
● The Firm assists a boat builder following an incident that occurred on a ship of which certain parts, supplied by third parties, had been the subject of a recall campaign.
Through its knowledge of technical and ethical risks both in prevention and in litigation, Grenier Avocats has developed specific expertise to assist its clients in the negotiation and drafting of commercial contracts. It thus brings added value both in the editorial and in the legal set-up of various commercial operations. He intervenes in France but also directly in the Ohada zone and on international projects with the help of his correspondents.
Examples of commercial and international cooperation contracts:
● The firm is regularly mandated by its clients, particularly internationally, to legally secure partnerships.
● The firm assists its clients in the negotiation and proofreading of its commercial leases.
The firm Grenier Avocats intervenes in all types of commercial disputes, national and transnational, and arbitration procedures both in demand and in defense by accompanying its clients, industrial groups and their insurers, in the development of a legal strategy. and in its implementation.
Prior to any litigation phase, the firm’s lawyers seek and propose an amicable solution favoring transactional negotiations or mediation.
The firm promotes the application of collaborative law, which is an alternative method of dispute resolution that places the parties at the center of the resolution of their conflict.
Examples of business litigation and arbitration procedures:
●The Firm successfully assisted a French railway technical control company in an arbitration opposing it to its Saudi client in a construction project in Saudi Arabia.
● Our client, an arms manufacturer, was sued by one of his competitors, who accused him of having allegedly arrogated one of his inventions – in this case combat equipment – to sell it for his benefit under another name.
● Our firm defends a truck dealer assigned to France by a foreign company, who accuses him of having delivered, without his agreement, to a third company, ten trucks which he had ordered from him.
Cabinet Grenier Avocats advises and assists its clients in consulting, in the phases of awarding public contracts and partnership contracts (responses to calls for tenders, negotiation and drafting of endorsements,), and litigation of the execution of contracts (referred to for expertise and appeal on the merits directed against the procedure or the contract, memorandum of claim or defence).
He is renowned for his mastery of the specificities of appeals before the administrative courts.
Cabinet files include issues relating to public service activities or the prerogatives of public authorities of public or private law bodies.
Examples of public procurement law:
● The firm defends a real estate diagnostician in multiple disputes related to the discovery of asbestos in industrial and public buildings.
● The Firm is regularly commissioned in the context of administrative and legal disputes, but also as counsel, by a private law company entrusted by delegation with prerogatives of public power in air matters.
● The Firm was mandated by a control office in the context of a fire in a building classified as a historic monument in Paris
● The firm defends a company responsible for project management of a site that caused damage to a neighboring site as part of extension work on line 14 of the Paris metro
● Following the fall of a crane on several homes during the construction of a real estate residence consisting of 33 homes, some of the owners initiated a liability action against the companies that participated in the construction operations. Our firm defends the SPS coordinator and his insurer.
Business criminal law refers to all the rules and criminal penalties applicable to offenses likely to occur in business and economic life.
Grenier Avocats represents companies and their managers before the criminal courts for all business-related offences.
We strive to assess the risks in terms of criminal liability of our clients as well as to support them in order to defend their interests in France and abroad.
Our area of expertise extends to all offences, both in common law (theft, fraud, breach of trust, corruption, forgery and use of forgery), and in corporate law (misuse of corporate assets, money laundering) , or in consumer law (deception).
The Firm has developed particular expertise in matters of executives’ liability in the face of all the risks weighing on them, with in particular a cross-cutting approach in relation to its dominant position in compliance.
Our Firm also works in partnership/collaboration with a firm specializing in stock market law and the management of disputes related to mergers and acquisitions, conflicts between partners, disputes relating to shareholders’ agreements, conflict situations post-lifting of funds (Billand & Messié).
Example of business criminal law:
● Our firm is involved in a case with a dual civil and criminal component opened following an accident that killed around ten people on a public construction site in Burkina Faso. On this occasion, our firm ensures the defense of a company which had been entrusted with several construction technical control missions on this site.
18 rue de l’Arcade
75008 Paris – France
Switchboard : + 33 1 86 95 15 90
Fax : + 33 1 86 95 37 60