The
“concentration obligation” (whereby a claimant must present from the outset of
proceedings all the grounds upon which he considers his claim to be justified)
has truly been consolidated within French private procedural law since the
Cesareo judgment of 7 July 2006. Extended to arbitration in 2008, this
obligation to concentrate the grounds of a claim then extended to concentrating
the claims themselves, before being once again limited solely to concentrating
the grounds of a claim. The aim seems laudable, including in relation to
concentrating the claims themselves. Nevertheless, one can contest the Cour de
Cassation’s resorting to res judicata. It would be preferable to find another basis, related
to the obligation of good faith, such as the obligation of fairness, which
would of itself modify the nature of the sanction flowing from the “concentration
obligation”.