On 25 March 2015, the French Supreme Court for Civil and Criminal matters (Cour de cassation) upheld its decision in Rothschild and ruled that an asymmetrical jurisdiction clause might not be enforceable in France.
The case concerned a French business and a Swiss bank. The clause provided that the bank could sue in “any other court of competent jurisdiction”. The lower court had validated the clause. The Cour de cassation allowed the appeal and ruled that the clause could have been validated if it had made clear on which “objective elements” it granted jurisdiction, which the lower court did not discuss. No reference was made to the French theory of potestative clauses.
Contrary to Rothschild, the applicable text was Article 23 of the Lugano Convention and no consumer was involved.
The decision is available in French here.