Court of Cassation judgment clarifies that a guarantor can invoke manifest disproportion of their commitment against co-guarantors who exercise a recourse after paying the debt.
Extract
[...] The Court unifies the regime of this exception by considering that it is attached to the validity of the guarantee contract itself and not to the sole relationship between the guarantor and the professional creditor. This solution strengthens the protection of physical guarantors by allowing them to invoke the manifest disproportion of their commitment both against the creditor and the subrogated guarantor or the co-guarantor who paid the debt. = illustrious obligations between co-guarantors (several guarantors) - The pursued guarantor may invoke the disproportionate nature of their guarantee against their co-guarantor. - Clarify the recourse of the solvent against their co-guarantors (which runs into the same limits as the debtor, art. 2310). [...]
[...] The Court of Cassation partially quashed the appeal judgment. It recalls, under the article L. 341-4 of the Consumer Code, now L. 332-1, together with articles 2305 and 2310 of the Civil Code, that the sanction of manifest disproportion deprives the guarantee contract of effect not only with regard to the professional creditor but also with regard to the co-guarantors who exercise a recourse after payment. Thus, the disproportion of the guarantor's commitment constitutes an inherent exception to the debt and not a purely personal exception. [...]
[...] 17-17.903 - The effects of suretyship between co-guarantors - Case summary sheet Court of Cassation, Civil, Civil Chamber September 17-17.903, Bull. civ By a judgment of cassation of September the first civil chamber of the Court of Cassation clarified the effects of suretyship between co-guarantors by ruling that the manifest disproportion of the guarantor's commitment can be opposed not only to the professional creditor but also to the guarantor who exercises a recourse after having paid the debt. A credit institution, professional creditor, had granted a real estate loan to a civil real estate company, SCI La Rose des Sables (main debtor) in the amount of 180,000 euros repayable in 180 monthly installments. [...]
