The mandate contract of a sports agent can be formed by the exchange of e-mails

According to a recent ruling by the Court of Cassation, an exchange of e-mails can serve as a written contract as long as it includes the mandatory particulars of the mandate contract. Very interesting judgment of the Court of Cassation which specifies the conditions of validity of the mandate contract in article L. 222-17 of the Sports Code. (Cass. Civ. 1st, July 11, 2018, no. 17-10.458).

As part of this judgment, a sports agent company sued ASSE Loire for payment of a certain sum representing the amount of a commission that it considered due under a mandate received from that company in order to negotiate with the Dortmund football club for the purpose of negotiating with the Dortmund football club for the transfer of a player. The Lyon Court of Appeal rejected the request of the sports agent company by affirming”that an electronic message cannot, by nature, constitute writing that concentrates the respective commitments of the parties”, required by article L. 222-17 of the Sports Code. The said company then filed an appeal in cassation.

With regard to the electronic form of the contract, the 1st civil chamber of the Court of Cassation, first of all, considered that”when a document is required for the validity of a legal act, it may be drawn up and kept in electronic form”. With regard to the conditions of validity of the mandate contract, the Court of Cassation affirms that”Article L. 222-17 of the Sports Code does not require that the contract whose legal regime it establishes be established in the form of a single written act“.

Analysis: The 1st civil chamber of the Court of Cassation provides clarifications as to the conditions of validity of the sports mandate contract. The Court of Cassation considers, on the one hand, based on former article 1108-1 of the Civil Code, that the electronic form of the contract has no impact on the validity of the contract: a written document in electronic form is, therefore, perfectly valid. The Court of Cassation affirms, on the other hand, that the conditions for the validity of a mandate contract do not necessarily have to be met in the context of a single written act: they may result from several electronic exchanges. Consequently, email exchanges can serve as a written contract as long as they include all the mandatory information. For better legal certainty, it is, however, strongly recommended that sports actors provide for a written mandate contract drawn up by a sports law lawyer.