Administrative Court of Appeal of Lyon: “the court is a little underemployed” according to Gilles Hermitte
Administrative courts are not required by law to hold a hearing, as are criminal courts: “It is a choice that we adopt to give a little more visibility and solemnity to our activities, explains the president of the administrative court of appeal of Lyon, Gilles Hermitte. It is a project that we had before the Covid period, and that we are concretizing this year.
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A decrease in the number of registered cases
The Chairman took stock of the volume of cases registered, and was surprised at the drop observed over the period from 1uh November 2021 to October 31, 2022 compared to the same period 2020-2021 with 4049 registered cases (-4.17%). This is the lowest figure since 2014. LThe courts are stable (+0.3%).
“This raises questions about the state of society. We are not sure how to analyze this figure. The size of the Court could absorb more cases. Our organization is currently a little understaffed, while our staff is fully satisfactory “The economic and social context may explain why plaintiffs and defendants do not initiate more appeals. Down this year, the appeal rate is 18% on decisions of administrative courts against 21% previously,” noted Gilles Hermitte.
Over the 2021-2022 period, 4,180 cases were judged (+8.74%); 4,370 files are in stock; it takes 12 months and 16 days of foreseeable time for judgment, i.e. a decrease of 45 days compared to 2021. Litigation by foreigners represents 53% of cases registered; tax litigation 9%; the civil service 10%; the environment 11%; other business 17%.
A collegial mode of operation
The court also examines the applications forlegal aid : “1,700 requests were heard at the court over the period 2021-2022. The court is called upon to rule on all requests from all courts within the jurisdiction.”
Nearly two thirds of the court’s decisions are taken collectively, the remaining third taken by orders. “This situation is the opposite of the four administrative courts of jurisdiction which take collegial decisions in 33 to 39% of the requests, complements the president. The rest being carried out by magistrates acting alone, with a high proportion of summary proceedings. It is an important specificity of administrative courts of appeal to maintain a high proportion of collegiality. In addition, the obligation of a lawyer before the court greatly facilitates the transmission of requests to the registry”.
As a reminder, the administrative court of appeal and the administrative courts do not have a relationship of subordination.
In numbers
The administrative court of Lyon has seven bedrooms. It covers the territory of the former Burgundy region and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It employs 85 people including 36 magistrates, 45 court clerks and 4 court assistants.