This case addresses the question of the compensation for environmental harm. The Court is asked to review the administrative tribunal's decision addressed the Prefect's decision. The prefect of Haute-Marne had issued a list of harmful protected species in 2007 and had laid down adequate procedures to hunt them. The Association for the protection of wild animals (ASPAS) claimed that it had suffered moral and ecological injuries due to the destruction of protected species and request compensation for environmental harm.

The court decided first, that the organization’s statutory goal is to protect flora, fauna and natural heritage, and more specifically the rehabilitation of wild animals and species. It stated that the Prefect had committed an error, because it decided to classify some species as harmful and authorised their destruction without the assessment of another possibilities to avoid theirs nuisances. This error had caused injury to the association. However, the Court ruled that the association could not request the establishment of the liability of the State for ecological damage, because it was not personally affected and no rules define the principle of such compensation by the State.

Consequently, the Court withdrew the judgement and specified an amount to compensate for moral injurie.