Chasing an invoice: the €40 recovery fee has a limit set by France's Court of Cassation
Cour de cassation, ruling of 17 September 2026 (appeal no. 24-22.899, published in the Bulletin): the fixed €40 fee does not apply to an insurance payout.
- On 17 September 2026 the Cour de cassation ruled the €40 fee does not apply to a late insurance payout.
- The fee is still owed by right by any professional paying late (art. L. 441-10, II, Commercial Code), but only for a commercial transaction.
- For an agency chasing invoices the rule shapes the reminder; a person decides the amount actually claimed.
On 17 September 2026 the second civil chamber of the Cour de cassation issued a ruling published in the Bulletin (appeal no. 24-22.899). A car repairer, assignee of its insured customer's claim for an insurance payout, asked the insurer to pay its invoice plus the fixed €40 recovery fee. A commercial court had granted the €40. The Court quashes that point only.
Its reasoning: article L. 441-10, II, of the Commercial Code makes any professional paying late liable by right for this fee, set at €40 by article D. 441-5. But those provisions transpose Directive 2011/7/EU, whose recital 8 excludes payments made as compensation for damage, including by insurers. So no €40 for a late insurance payout. The basic rule is unchanged for an ordinary invoice between professionals.
For AppH
- Chasing an overdue invoice is repetitive work: note the due date, restate the penalties and the €40, keep a written trail. An assistant can prepare those reminders from the file.
- The edge case this ruling shows (assigned claim, insurance payout) falls outside the standard path: the reminder goes to a person at the agency, who decides what to claim.
Against / the honest limit
- The ruling settles one specific case, the claim for an insurance payout. It says nothing more about other situations and we do not generalise it.
- AppH does not give legal advice or classify a claim: a tool prepares the letter, a lawyer or the manager decides.
A simple rule (€40 per late invoice) has exceptions that case law refines over the years. Automating the sending of reminders helps; having a person validate what is claimed is what prevents the mistake.
Reviewed by a human at AppH