French Court Rejects €8,768 Claim Against Man Who Traveled to Morocco on Sick Leave
The Rhône CPAM was seeking nearly 9,000 euros from an insured person who traveled to Morocco while on sick leave and took part in a medical conference. But an irregularity in its investigation led the court to throw out the entire case.
Airline tickets, bank transactions abroad and a medical conference in Morocco. The Rhône CPAM thought it had enough evidence to demand that an insured person repay his daily benefits. It initially asked him for 10,199 euros, before reducing its claim to 8,768.61 euros. On September 21, 2026, the Lyon judicial court ultimately rejected its claim, according to the ruling consulted on Pappers Justice.
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The man was on sick leave from September 10, 2018, to June 30, 2019. During that period, he made several trips abroad, including to Morocco. The fund also faulted him for taking part in the 13th Franco-Moroccan Gynecology Conference, held on April 19 and 20, 2019. He had helped coordinate the conference’s scientific program and had spoken at the event. According to the health insurance fund, he had undertaken these activities and trips without prior authorization.
The insured person disputed the allegations. He said, among other things, that he had informed the fund about his trip for the medical conference. His cardiologist had also attested that the stay in Morocco with his relatives was essential in the context of professional burnout accompanied by a depressive reaction. He also challenged the evidence used to establish his travels.
The CPAM investigated with banks and airlines
To reconstruct his trips, an agent from the fraud prevention department requested information from his bank and three airlines. These inquiries enabled the CPAM to identify ticket purchases, expenses and withdrawals made abroad.
But before the judges, the insured person raised a decisive question: did the agent who conducted the inquiries actually have the necessary credentials? Regulations require agents who use certain investigative powers, including obtaining information from third-party organizations, to be approved and sworn in. Yet the CPAM produced neither the agent’s oath-taking record nor the approval decision. The report merely described him as an “sworn agent.”
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In the court’s view, that wording alone was not enough to establish that the agent was authorized to exercise those powers. The judges therefore ruled the investigation irregular and annulled the reimbursement notice sent to the insured person on October 28, 2020. The fund could no longer rely on that investigation to claim the 8,768.61 euros.
The Rhône CPAM’s claim was therefore dismissed, and it was ordered to pay the insured person 1,000 euros in legal costs, as well as to cover the court costs. After nearly six years of proceedings, the case ended on a question about the legality of the investigation, without the court needing to rule on the allegations concerning the trips to Morocco.
