Facts
This case concerns C., a debtor domiciled in Saint-Genis-Pouilly (France) who works in Geneva. The distance between his domicile and his workplace is 8.5 km, which he travels four times a day due to his irregular work schedule that does not allow him to use public transportation. On January 19, 1978, the Court of First Instance of Geneva ordered the sequestration of C.'s salary at the request of company B. SA. The Debt Collection Office of Geneva then declared C.'s salary non-seizable, taking into account the transportation costs estimated at 100 CHF per month.
On February 1, 1978, B. SA requested the cantonal supervisory authority to review the debtor's situation. The office then conducted a new investigation and distinguished between the fixed costs (254 CHF per month) and the variable costs (170 CHF per month) related to C.'s use of the automobile to commute to his workplace. Based on this report, B. SA estimated that the debtor's salary could be seized up to 455 CHF per month.
On June 21, 1978, the cantonal supervisory authority partially upheld the complaint, setting the amount of the deduction from C.'s salary at 160 CHF per month. It considered the use of an automobile by the debtor to be justified, but refused to take into account the depreciation of the vehicle in the calculation of transportation costs.
Considerations
Company B. SA appealed to the Federal Tribunal, requesting that the transportation costs be reduced to 52 CHF per month, which would bring the amount of the deduction to 308 CHF. The Federal Tribunal dismissed the appeal.
The Federal Tribunal considered that…