Facts
On September 9, 2011, Y. filed a conciliation request with the District Court of La Côte against his employer, company X. SA, following his dismissal with immediate effect on July 7, 2011. On December 20, 2011, the President of the Civil Court of the District of La Côte issued Y. an authorization to proceed against X. SA, determining the amount of the plaintiff's claims to be CHF 190,141. Y. then filed an action against X. SA on March 21, 2012.
X. SA questioned the validity of the authorization to proceed. The Civil Court of Appeal of the Vaud Cantonal Tribunal dismissed X. SA's appeal, considering that the existence of a valid conciliation was a condition of admissibility of the action and that X. SA should have contested the authorization to proceed by way of appeal.
X. SA finally filed a civil law appeal with the Federal Tribunal, alleging a violation of Articles 59, 237 and 227 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC).
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal considered that the existence of a valid authorization to proceed, issued by the conciliation authority, is a condition of admissibility of the claim, which the court must examine ex officio under Article 60 CPC.
It found that the authorization to proceed was issued by a manifestly incompetent authority, as the disputed value exceeded the threshold of CHF 100,000 and the President of the District Court was therefore…