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tirer le fil
Le transit n'est pas toujours bien suivi
Dec 22, 2021 10:42
2 yrs ago
45 viewers *
French term

se rendre responsable

French to English Law/Patents Law (general)
Writ of summons issued by a distributor of a French company of an international manufacturer.

The distributor is suing AAA for sudden termination of their business relationship, and claiming that its actions during the period of notice (which the distributor says was a sham period of notice due to AAA's wrongful actions during it) also constitute anti-competitive practices.

NB XXX are certain widely purchased consumer items.

"L’atteinte à la concurrence est en l’espèce d’autant plus grave que la pratique dénoncée est mise en œuvre par le leader du marché, dont les produits sont incontournables et sont un véritable « ticket d’entrée » sur le marché de la distribution des XXX.
Là aussi, la société AAA s’est donc rendue responsable d’une entente anticoncurrentielle prohibée par l’article L.420-1 du Code de commerce."

I was trying to think what this in effect means... I think it means "is guilty of forming an anti-competitive agreement"... but can you use "guilty" in a civil law context like this?

And, in pleadings (or a writ of summons as here), do counsel really use such a "bald" term as "X is guilty of ..."?
Proposed translations (English)
3 to be culpable of
3 +1 rendered itself liable for
4 is therefore responsible for an anticompetitive agreement
4 initiate
3 is to be/must be held liable/accountable for
2 +1 incur direct (personal) liability for
3 place itself in a position of being liable for / may rightly be held liable for

Discussion

Mpoma (asker) Dec 29, 2021:
"Culpable" answer? Works for me... but I can't choose it unless someone answers thus.
Eliza Hall Dec 26, 2021:
@AllegroTrans Re your comment on my comment on your proposed translation, yes, antitrust violations (the US equivalent) can carry criminal and/or civil penalties. Broadly speaking you can tell which sort it is by who's on the other side from the defendant: federal prosecutors? Criminal. Another company in the industry? Civil.

But the question here is whether violating the French statute at issue (art. L.420-1 of the Commerce Code) carries criminal, civil, or both sorts of penalties. If this FR statute can't carry criminal penalties, then you can't properly use the word "guilty" in your EN translation.

Here, the complainant is another company in the industry, so we're almost certainly looking at a civil issue rather than a criminal one ("almost" because I don't have time to look up whether criminal penalties can be part of this sort of civil case in France).

If we don't know or don't have time to research the penalties, then "culpable" could work because it means at fault or blameworthy--it leans criminal ("culpable homicide" etc.) but is not exclusively criminal: https://thelawdictionary.org/culpable/
AllegroTrans Dec 24, 2021:
Another expression comes to mind I won't post it as a suggestion as I have already had two shots.
How about "is culpable of"?
Nikki Scott-Despaigne Dec 23, 2021:
for having given rise to an AC agreement Some form of words is required in English to link the two parts here. This is one suggestion among a number of ways of dealing with it.
Mpoma (asker) Dec 23, 2021:
@AllegroT Absolutely!

I often find myself toning down the imperiousness of the language in such cases, and am surprised by it. I'm also surprised by the sometimes incredible amount of, yes, repetition, but also for example, underlining, italicising and bolding: any judge reading these things must be thinking "what, do you take me for a 7-year-old with the attention span of a gnat?". And yet that seems to be the convention.
AllegroTrans Dec 22, 2021:
@ Mpoma You are, as I often do, thinking in UK terms. However, I have seen, and translated, French civil pleadings with such wording as "the Court is bound to adjudge...etc." and "the Court can not but find the defendant liable..,etc." No UK civil lawyer would dare to make such a submission, albeit such is frequently the talk of prosecution Counsel addressing juries.
Mpoma (asker) Dec 22, 2021:
@AllegroT That's an interesting observation. On reflection my thoughts when I was dubious about the word "guilty" are I think not so much about whether it's a civil or criminal context, but rather that, yes, mightn't the judge(s) be offended if a mere counsel presumes to say who is "guilty": that's the job of the judge!
As it is I think Phil has come up with the solution: it's a French étoffement and the meaning is actually very simple.
AllegroTrans Dec 22, 2021:
"guilty of" My experience is that French civil pleadings use much balder/bolder, outright statements than UK ones. Not only that, they often repeat the same statement in very slightly different wording (which would be against the general rule in E&W and certain to be slapped down by the judge)
Mpoma (asker) Dec 22, 2021:
@CadastreT yes, AAA is the company which initiated the agreement. The agreement is a selective distribution network agreement which, according to this document, is legal in France, but only if certain conditions are met. The complainant distributor here is saying that all (in fact) of these conditions were unmet, making this an illegal agreement, under French (and EU) competition law.
Bourth Dec 22, 2021:
is involved in / is (the active party) behind I'd be tempted to say simply 'is part of' or 'is involved in' unless it is actually the party that initiated the agreement, which we don't know from the info given.
Tabassom Mohammadi Dec 22, 2021:
shirk/evade responsibility or turn a blind eye to responsibility.

Proposed translations

7 days
Selected

to be culpable of

Although liability is the issue here, I somehow think the notion of guilt has to be incorprated in the translation. "Guilty" would normally be, in geal terms, associated with criminal proceedings, so perhaps "culpable" would work.

Standard definitions indicate that the term can be applied to civil wrongs such as negligence:

Culpable
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Idioms, Wikipedia.
Related to Culpable: culpable negligence
Culpable

Blameworthy; involving the commission of a fault or the breach of a duty imposed by law.

Culpability generally implies that an act performed is wrong but does not involve any evil intent by the wrongdoer. The connotation of the term is fault rather than malice or a guilty purpose. It has limited significance in Criminal Law except in cases of reckless Homicide in which a person acts negligently or demonstrates a reckless disregard for life, which results in another person's death. In general, however, culpability has milder connotations. It is used to mean reprehensible rather than wantonly or grossly negligent behavior. Culpable conduct may be wrong but it is not necessarily criminal.

Culpable ignorance is the lack of knowledge or understanding that results from the omission of ordinary care to acquire such knowledge or understanding.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
culpable

adj. sufficiently responsible for criminal acts or negligence to be at fault and liable for the conduct. Sometimes culpability rests on whether the person realized the wrongful nature of his/her actions and thus should take the blame.
Copyright © 1981-2005 by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T. Hill. All Right reserved.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks... "
+1
35 mins
French term (edited): se rendre responsable de

rendered itself liable for

I think this is the sense, but in EN we need to add something between 'liable for' and 'entente' — you'll have to find the best way of expressing this in the wider context and style of your document. Possibly 'rendered itself liable to accusations of...' or something along those lines
Note from asker:
Thanks. Various permutations along these lines did occur to me, "made itself liable for forming an ...", etc. But there was a niggle: it didn't sound like a piece of English legalese you'd actually hear. This may be one of those phrases for which there isn't a truly natural-sounding equivalent in English.
Peer comment(s):
neutral AllegroTrans : This is the sense, but somehow the turn of phrase doesn't sound right
7 hrs
agree Eliza Hall : This is indeed how we'd say it in English legalese. Not "accusations" though; liable for entering into an anticompetitive relationship/combination (US antitrust term)/agreement.
3 days 5 hrs
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1 hr
French term (edited): s’est donc rendue responsable d’une entente anticoncurrentielle

is therefore responsible for an anticompetitive agreement

Alternative 1: is therefore responsible for [imposing] an anticompetitive agreement
Alternative 2: is therefore legally responsible for [imposing] an anticompetitive agreement.
(the word rendered is not stated or implied by the author)
Peer comment(s):
neutral Eliza Hall : "Responsible for" isn't how we'd say it. Liable is the word. "Rendered" doesn't need to be stated/implied in the FR in order to be the correct way of phrasing this in English.
3 days 4 hrs
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3 hrs

initiate

That's the word you yourself used :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2021-12-22 14:48:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

...in the discussion box.
Note from asker:
Yes, I'm inclined to think the whole "liability" thing probably doesn't need to be spelled out so much in English. In this case...
Peer comment(s):
agree AllegroTrans
3 hrs
disagree Eliza Hall : I don't see how this translates the requested phrase at all.
3 days 2 hrs
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8 hrs

is to be/must be held liable/accountable for

I don't normally make more than one suggestion, but just following on from Tony's "we need to add something between 'liable for' and 'entente'" - this is what ocurred to me
Something went wrong...
+1
10 hrs
French term (edited): se rendre responsable de

incur direct (personal) liability for

Là aussi, la société AAA s’est donc rendue responsable : Ergo, there too, the company did incur (not 'in' as per the ProZ weblink) direct, personal and non-vicarious liability for or over....

Our inhouse notaries had been quick to use 'incurring of liability' in such a context and arguably isn't too far off Tony M.'s idea.

I had been dubious about referring to a company's, as opposed to its directors', personal liability - query the company's self-incurred liability, but g/hits are ambiguous about a company vs. the directors or a 'promoter entity' giving a personal guarantee.

BTW, I doubt 'initiate' vs. 'precipitate' connotes any idea of fault, culpability or guilt - quite possible and acceptable in English pleadings aka statements of case or the court's judgment, except perhaps for 'carrying the can' - and even that colloquial expression might not be 'struck down' by the court.

PS I wasn't going to answer this question as I thought someone else was sure to nail it without reference to the topical intersection between personal liability in tort and corporate, vicarious liability.
Example sentence:

If a subsidiaries’ liability is extended to cover acts of the parent company, would a provision of national law which provides only for liability incurred by the subsidiary to be extended to the parent company,

Moreover, companies should not just “switch off” when they outsource an activity to external service providers, because they could incur antitrust liability through negligence.

Reference:

http://www.proz.com/kudoz/english-to-french/law-general/1610010-incur-in-civil-liability.html

http://www.jhklegal.com.au/everything-a-small-business-needs-to-know-about-personal-guarantees/

Note from asker:
Thanks, and you've identified the weakness of Phil's solution which had occurred to me, i.e. no explicit notion of liability. But I think there is arguably enough implicit liability for it to work. The trouble is that anything else is a terrible mouthful which draws attention to itself and may ultimately confuse the reader. I have now returned it and put "formed" rather than "initiated".
Peer comment(s):
agree Tony M
1 hr
Thanks, Tony. I've 'reworded' your answer, though feel the asker's 'culpability' angle is still a fuzzy match. Rather the company 'has landed itself' with vicarious civil and possibly criminal liability for the anti-competitive agreement.
agree Nikki Scott-Despaigne
18 hrs
Thanks Nikki. It looks like our US American colleagues misconstrue corporate liability as criminal-only.
neutral TechLawDC : You have rewritten the author. The author does not specify whether the responsibility of company AAA is identified as being criminal, civil, or administrative (under administrative law).
1 day 6 hrs
That's my very intersectional tort-criminal-admin.-military liability point. I do not speciify which type of liability it is, whether strict or absolute. Like Eliza H., you may be falling into a US-American criminal-only liability trap.
disagree Eliza Hall : Not at all, since we're talking about a corporation. How could a corporation have personal liability for something?! https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/personal-liability
2 days 20 hrs
That's my very point, so personal is bracketed. Otherwise, please stop applying US Am. criminal-only liability to a UK question & read *carefully*- for a change - the 3rd para. of my explanation referring to a personal guaranty given by a corporate.
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3 days 5 hrs

place itself in a position of being liable for / may rightly be held liable for

Two ideas of mine
Example sentence:

'...if someone willingly places themselves in a position where ...'

'Paint companies rightly held liable for lead exposure'

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volenti_non_fit_injuria

http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Editorial-Paint-companies-rightly-held-liable-13312761.php

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