Should the climate lawsuit filed by Belgian organic farmer Hugues Falys against TotalEnergies be moved again from Mons to Tournai? If it were up to the French oil giant, it would be, as TotalEnergies has filed a motion to that effect.
In any case, it is a remarkable procedural move, and according to the NGOs supporting Hugues Falys, TotalEnergies is deliberately employing delaying tactics. A specialized environmental court must now rule on TotalEnergies’ request.
Legal tangle
For those who are having trouble untangling the threads of this climate case, the case began in the Commercial Court of Tournai in 2024. In March of this year, the court declared the case admissible but did not yet rule on the merits – that ruling was stayed pending the outcome of a similar case in Paris.
In June, however, TotalEnergies filed an appeal against that decision. As a result, the case was transferred to the Mons Court of Appeals, where the proceedings were, in principle, set to start over from scratch.
TotalEnergies is now arguing before the Mons Court of Appeals that it has lost a “level of jurisdiction.” It is therefore requested, as an interim measure, that the case be remanded to the court of first instance in Tournai before any new appeal is brought to the Court of Appeal in Mons.
The reasoning behind the request? The court in Tournai ruled only on the admissibility of the claim for damages and the requested orders of the case and not on the merits.
This would violate the principle of “double trial”, the right to have a case heard by two successive judges, namely, first by a trial court judge and then, if a party does not agree, by an appellate court judge.
The Mons Court of Appeals will now first set a new schedule for the arguments regarding the requested interim measure. Only after the court has decided on the location of the hearings will the arguments regarding the case’s admissibility and merits resume.
Delaying maneuver
According to the NGOs supporting Hugues Falys, TotalEnergies is deliberately employing a delaying tactic. “This is a strategy the multinational has used before in other climate cases, such as in Paris (…).
For our part, we are emphasizing the urgency of putting an end to TotalEnergies’ climate-destructive course.”
For TotalEnergies, it is likely simply a matter of principle regarding procedural safeguards, though it seems more like a purely procedural squabble over the legal process to be followed.
