Woman Who Was Ruled Dead In 2017 Fights To Prove She Is Alive

A woman in France has been struggling with an unusual legal fight for the past three years. Jeanne Pouchain, who is 58 years old now, has to prove she is alive after she was declared dead in a legal dispute in 2017.

Pouchain of Loire region was declared dead following a legal dispute with an employee of her former cleaning company. The employee, who had lost her job 20 years ago, filed a case against Pouchain, seeking compensation.

The dispute came to an end after Pouchain was deemed dead even though no death certificate was produced, news outlet The Journal.ie reported.

The employee's initial complaint was filed at France’s Prudhomme workers’ court. However, Pouchain lawyers claimed her company had no responsibility for dismissal of the employee.

The case further proceeded with a series of appeals at various levels of court. The Court of Cassation, France’s highest court, dismissed the case saying it was outside their domain.

Pouchain and her lawyer Sylvain Cormier said the snowballing judicial errors resulted in the 2017 ruling at the appeals court of Lyon that Pouchain was not among the living. They added they did not receive the summons for the court hearing.

Lyon's appeals court also ordered Pouchain’s husband and her son to pay $17,000 as compensation to the former employee, reported HuffPost.

Cormier filed a motion Monday to invalidate the 2017 ruling that was caused due to “grave errors.” He said he could not initially believe the client and has not dealt with such a “crazy case”.

“I no longer exist,” Pouchain said. “I don’t do anything… I sit on the veranda and write.”

Pouchain said she will not forgive the employee who brought her the plight but refused to name her.

Pouchain now faces many legal difficulties because of her deceased status. It has prevented her and her husband, who is a legal beneficiary along with their son, from using their joint bank account.

The officials have seized her car over an unpaid debt, which she was contesting. She fears the family furniture will be next and calls her situation “macabre.”

“It’s my last chance to recover my life,” Pouchain said after filing the motion.