Near Lyon: her house is built on polluted land, the owner makes the State give in

A childminder, who had the misfortune of buying a house in Grézieu-la-Varenne, near Lyon, on a former polluted industrial site, challenged in court the prefectural decree which forced her to decontaminate the land before hoping to one day sell it.

The interim relief judge of the administrative court of Lyon ruled in favor of an heiress of Louis Mercier, a former professional in the textile industry of Grézieu-la-Varenne (Rhône), by suspending the obligation imposed on her to deposit €107,000 for the decontamination of the site.

A prefectural decree against him

Colette XXX, a “childminder” who earns “less than €19,000 per year”, had taken legal action on May 30, 2024 after a new prefectural decree was issued against her two weeks earlier: it was “urgent” to suspend it because her income “does not allow her to finance the obligations imposed on her”, according to her law firm.

“Her status as heiress cannot confer on her the status of beneficiary, within the meaning of the environmental code: the assets (…) allowing the operation of Mr. Louis Mercier’s activity were transferred (…) to his wife, whose inheritance she refused, then to the company ID Mercier,” the firm insisted.

The Rhône prefect, for her part, considered that “the general interest” in this case “lies in the implementation of the measures” that she had prescribed: they “aim to remedy significant environmental damage”. The applicant could also assume the cost of the repairs “by transferring part of its assets”, she suggested.

A company dedicated to “welcoming children”

“The applicant is not unrelated to the current situation insofar as she was the managing partner of the company ID Mercier, and she illegally operated this site between 1995 and 2010,” Fabienne Buccio’s services also noted.

“It was at the origin of the sale of the polluted real estate, while the failure to inform the buyers was at the origin of additional damage, the decontamination being made more expensive.” The company ID Mercier had in fact become in 2010 the company “Ideas Mercier”: its corporate purpose was now “the manufacture and sale of craft objects”, “the rental of rooms” and “the reception of children”…

“On November 19, 1959, a silk degreasing, textile finishing, fireproofing and laundry activity (…) was declared in the name of “Mercier Fils” on a site located at Le Tupinier in Grézieu-la-Varenne”, begins by recontextualizing the interim relief judge of the Lyon administrative court in an order dated June 18, 2024 which has just been made public. This company used “halogenated liquids” and “chlorinated solvents”.

“In 1965, a second company was created – (…) whose manager was also initially Mr. Mercier – carrying out a laundry and textile cleaning activity,” he continues. This was declared as a Classified Installation for the Protection of the Environment (ICPE) in 1982 “due to (…) the use of perchloroethylene-type products.”

“As the companies’ activity gradually ceased, the purpose of the land was changed to be used for residential purposes, and the land was transferred to third parties,” the judge finally explained.

A complaint had thus been filed by local residents in August 2019 “after the discovery of an oil slick in the basement”: an “odorous floating phase at the bottom of the excavation” had in fact been discovered “during excavation work” carried out as part of a project to extend a neighboring property, specifies the report from a consulting firm. The “members of the Mercier family” but also the “notaries who signed the deed of sale of the property” were thus taken to court by the owners.

A company from Roanne had already been worried

And this was not the first pollution detected on this former industrial site: “contamination” of the water table “by trichloroethylene” had been detected in 1982 “at a well” located “on neighboring land.”

“Contentious actions” were then initiated, the “joint liability” of Louis Mercier and one of his companies “established” by a judgment of the Lyon High Court, confirmed on appeal in 1986… “but without any rehabilitation actions appearing to have been subsequently taken”.

The administrative court of Lyon had already been called upon to examine the case: in 2023 it had already annulled prefectural decrees placing the decontamination costs at the expense of ATC Energie, a company from Roanne (Loire) which had taken over “several elements of the business assets” of the first of Louis Mercier’s two companies. It had in fact only taken over “the sign”, “the trade name”, “the clientele”, “the furniture” and “the commercial equipment”, but “neither the liabilities nor the assets” of ID Mercier. “Furthermore, it is clear that (…) ATC Energie carries out its activity in Roanne and that it has never continued to operate the activity (…) on the Grézieu-la-Varenne site”, stressed the administrative court of Lyon.

Disavowed State Must Pay Legal Costs

“Ms. XXX claims that the cost of the measures (…) is very high in relation to her income,” the interim relief judge of the same administrative court in Lyon now summarises. However, the Rhône prefect “does not provide evidence of the assets that Ms. XXX would have, which she would be obliged to sell in order to meet her obligations”. This therefore constitutes a “serious and immediate attack” on her “financial situation”, “without the State being able to oppose the general interest” relating to the implementation of the measures.

Above all, “the applicant (…) disputes its very status as debtor of the obligation” to repair the damage and “it does not emerge from the investigation that it was, during this period, the cause of the pollution”. In view of the “serious doubt” which hangs “over the legality” of this prefectural decree, it was therefore suspended until its re-examination by the same court, this time meeting in a collegiate formation of three judges, within two years.

In the meantime, the State will have to pay €1,000 to Colette XXX for her legal costs.

/GF (PressPepper)

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