Editing Alain Lipietz (section)

== Court challenge to SNCF ==
In 2006 Alain and his sister Hélène,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://helene.lipietz.net/spip.php?auteur2|title=Hélène Lipietz - Hélène Lipietz}}</ref> A former Green Senator and lawyer, sued the French government and [[SNCF]], the national railway of [[France]], for reparations for transporting members of their family to the [[Drancy deportation camp]] during [[World War II]]. The case was heard in the French Administrative Court, the body charged with trying cases against the French government and its agencies. The defendants argued at trial that they were at the time under orders of the [[Germany|German]] military; the railroad further argued that the German military threatened to shoot any railroad official who disobeyed their orders.  The court disagreed, concluding that the [[Vichy government]] could not have avoided knowledge of the prisoners' likely deportation to concentration camps, and that SNCF made no effort to either protest the transportation or to transport them in a humane manner.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/french-railway-must-pay-for-transporting-family-to-nazis-1.575679| title=French railway must pay for transporting family to Nazis| work=CBC News| date=2006-06-07| access-date=2006-06-09}}</ref> On June 6, 2006, the court ordered them to pay [[Euro|€]] 61,000 (almost [[United States dollar|$]]80,000).

The French government accepted the decision, but in 2007 SNCF successfully appealed the decision regarding themselves. The appeal court found that SNCF was a separate entity to the government and thus outside the competence of the Administrative court.<ref name="BBC07">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6499227.stm | title=French railways win WWII appeal | work=BBC News |date=27 March 2007| access-date=30 November 2013}}</ref>

The Lipietz family are understood to be considering a further appeal to the State Council in respect of the claim against SNCF.<ref name="BBC07"/>