Swimming: the Court of Appeal rules in favor of Yannick Agnel in the dispute between him and the Mulhouse club

The Court of Appeal of Colmar confirmed, Friday, May 13, 2022, the condemnation of Mulhouse Olympic Natation (MON) in the financial dispute which opposes it to the Olympic champion Yannick Agnel, to whom it will have to pay the last year of his contract, i.e. 60,000 euros.

This decision rendered by the second civil chamber of the Alsatian jurisdiction confirms the judgment rendered at first instance by the judicial court of Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) on July 7, 2020, which had already ordered the MON to pay 60,000 euros to the swimmer.

The club will also have to pay 2,000 euros to Yannick Agnel and the company LGY, which manages its contracts and image rights, according to this judicial source.

"We take note of the position of the Court of Appeal which, in its judgment, takes up in all respects the judgment which had been pronounced" in Mulhouse, indicated Me Dominique Riegel, the club's lawyer.

Asked about the possibility of an appeal in Cassation, the council was circumspect: “The Court of Cassation does not judge the facts but rules in law… I do not think that an appeal is admissible.

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“By confirming the perfectly reasoned judgment of the Mulhouse court, the Colmar Court of Appeal puts an end to the unfounded disputes of the MON and restores Yannick Agnel in his rights.

This decision is perfectly justified both in terms of the facts and the law, ”reacted for his part Me Nicolas Mahassen, counsel for Yannick Agnel.

A club in turmoil

In an agreement signed by both parties, the Mulhouse club undertook to pay its swimmer 50,000 euros in 2014 then 60,000 in 2015 and 2016. But in August 2016, during the Rio Olympics, Yannick Agnel had announced to the press, after his elimination in the 200m freestyle series, that he was retiring from international duty after the Olympics.

The MON, which had found a breach of contract on the part of the swimmer, had then suspended the payments.

Yannick Agnel, who challenged the non-payment of the last year of the contract, therefore won his case, at first instance and on appeal.

The training club of Roxana Maracineanu, world swimming champion in 1998 and Minister Delegate for Sports, MON, whose founder Laurent Horter died in April at the age of 88, is currently in turmoil.

The latest accounts, published in September 2019, show an annual deficit of 44,000 euros and a debt of 780,000 euros, despite 680,000 euros in subsidies.

In another case, the club is currently indicted for "attempted fraud" for facts dating back to 2016, on a complaint with civil action by the family of a swimmer.

He is also at the heart of a preliminary investigation into his management, opened in January 2020 by the Mulhouse prosecution, and entrusted to the financial brigade.

As for Yannick Agnel, he was indicted in December for "rape and sexual assault" after a complaint from the daughter of his former trainer, Lionel Horter.