Facts
The Society of Real Estate Agents of Geneva (SRG) is an association that brings together real estate agents and brokers in the canton. At its general assembly on January 14, 1985, the SRG decided to supplement its code of ethics, particularly regarding the sale of apartments already rented. Article 39 of the bylaws provides that members who do not comply with the decisions of the society may be sanctioned, including by exclusion.
On March 19, 1985, the Geneva Association for the Defense of Tenants (ASLOCA) informed the SRG that the real estate agency X. S.A. was not respecting the commitments resulting from the decision of January 14, 1985. Summoned before the board of the committee, the directors of X. S.A. did not contest the facts. The board then proposed to the committee to submit to the general assembly a prior notice of exclusion of X. S.A. for a period of one year.
At the extraordinary general assembly of May 8, 1985, after hearing the directors of X. S.A., the assembly decided, in their absence, to pronounce the immediate exclusion of X. S.A., with the possibility of reintegration if this company established that the tenants concerned had been offered a five-year lease.
X. S.A. contested this decision of exclusion before the Geneva courts, without success. It finally appealed to the Federal Tribunal, which dismissed its appeal.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal considered that the agenda of the general assembly, although it did not expressly mention the term "exclusion", sufficiently indicated that this sanction was being considered. Indeed, the bylaws of the SRG provide that the exclusion of a member falls within the exclusive competence of the general assembly, the committee being able…