Executing a labour judgment: the premature commandement and the leased trucks

A judgment is a titre exécutoire only in two situations: when it has become final (force de chose jugée), or when it is provisionally enforceable by operation of law or by decision of the court.

Here the judgment of 14 March 2024 is silent on provisional execution, and an appeal was lodged on 2 April 2024. In Cameroonian civil procedure an appeal is, in principle, suspensive of execution. The bailiff therefore had no executable title on 3 March 2025 unless he could produce a certificate of non-appeal - which cannot exist, since an appeal was lodged.

The distinction between the heads of claim matters. In social matters, claims for wages and salary arrears are commonly granted provisional execution by law, because the employee must live; but the 12,000,000 FCFA here is damages for abusive dismissal, not salary, and follows the ordinary regime. Counsel should check the exact wording of the judgment and the applicable social-procedure rule before concluding, but the starting presumption is suspension.

The correct route was not self-help by the bailiff. Ms Eyenga should have applied to the first president of the Court of Appeal for provisional execution of the judgment notwithstanding the appeal, showing urgency and the absence of serious grounds of challenge; or awaited the appeal judgment. The defective commandement contaminates all the seizures that followed: a seizure founded on a non-executable title is void, and the whole enforcement chain collapses, exposing the creditor to an action for saisie abusive.

The trucks - two independent defects.

First, timing: a saisie-vente must be preceded by a commandement de payer allowing a fixed interval (eight days) before any seizure. Seizing the day after the commandement is premature and renders the seizure void, independently of the title problem.

Second, ownership: the trucks are held under a finance-lease with ALIOS Finance, registered at the RCCM. Until the purchase option is exercised, the lessor remains owner. A creditor of the lessee cannot seize property that does not belong to its debtor. ALIOS should file a demande en revendication before the competent judge, producing the registered lease; registration makes the lease opposable, and this is exactly why the bailiff must consult the RCCM before seizing. The same reasoning would defeat a seizure of goods held under a simple deposit or a retention-of-title clause.

The managing director's car. A company is a separate legal person from its manager. The debts of SOTRACAM cannot be enforced against Mr Kamdem's personal property unless he signed a cautionnement, or unless there is a proven confusion of patrimoines justifying an extension of liability - which requires serious evidence, not the assertion that he is 'the brain of the company'. The seizure is void, and Mr Kamdem can obtain mainlevée and damages for the wrongful seizure of his vehicle, including loss of use.

The lesson is practical: before any seizure the bailiff must verify, at the RCCM and at the registry of nantissements, who actually owns the assets, and must respect the mandatory intervals. A bailiff who skips those steps engages his own liability, and the creditor who instructed him may have to indemnify the debtor.

The saisie-attribution on the Afriland account. This procedure is available only to a creditor holding an executable title; it is served on the bank as third party, which must declare the sums held and their availability, and the funds thereby become unavailable to the debtor. It is faster than a saisie-vente and does not require a prior commandement, but it is even more strictly tied to the existence of a valid title.

Here the title was not executable, and the saisie was served after the defective commandement. The bank's declaration does not cure the defect: a third party's declaration creates no title. The seizure is therefore void, and the funds must be released. Had the title been valid, the debtor could still contest before the judge of execution within the statutory period, and the bank could be held liable for a false or incomplete declaration.

Remedies for SOTRACAM. Contestation of the seizures and an application for mainlevée before the judge competent for execution disputes (in practice the urgent-applications judge of the Tribunal de Première Instance), with a request for damages for abusive and vexatious seizure, since the creditor knew or ought to have known that the judgment was not executable and that the trucks were leased. Damages should cover the immobilisation of the fleet, the blocked account and loss of image.

Remedies for ALIOS Finance. A demande en revendication of the three trucks, on the strength of the registered finance-lease, plus damages for the disturbance of its ownership. ALIOS is not a party to the employment dispute and its property cannot answer for SOTRACAM's debts.

Practical advice to Ms Eyenga. Obtain provisional execution, then re-serve a fresh commandement and wait the full interval; verify the company's assets at the RCCM; and target only the company's own property, starting with the bank account, which is the least disruptive and most certain route.