The year 2020 was a turning point in the professional life of Laurent Ruquier. The host has made the decision to put an end to his beautiful and long adventure of fourteen years We are not in bed on France 2. A decision which signed his divorce with the producer of the show, Catherine Barma, with whom he had worked closely for twenty years. Indeed, war was even declared and both turned against each other in court.
Catherine Barma decided to sue his former protege for “abrupt termination of an established business relationship“. She had been forced to lay off several employees of her company Tout sur l’Écran. As for Laurent Ruquier, he took steps to claim the money from her for the latest shows.”The money that was paid by France 2 was paid to Catherine Barma’s company, but nothing came back to me!“, he had made it known on RTL in 2021.
Our colleagues from Telerama inform us that justice delivered its verdict earlier this week, Monday, June 20, in favor of Catherine Barma. The thirteenth chamber of the Paris Commercial Court has indeed chosen to condemn the companies of Laurent Ruquier (Ruq Productions and Little Bros) to pay Tout sur l’Écran nearly one million euros in damages (and more precisely 999,715 euros). The producer did not react to this news nor Laurent Ruquier. On the other hand, the latter’s lawyer, Me Céline Astolfe, said she intended to appeal. “We are immediately appealing a totally unfair decision“, she let go.
It should be noted that neither of the two complainants had appeared in court on the day the case was heard, May 13. For two years, Laurent Ruquier and Catherine Barma have only spoken to each other through lawyers. “We would meet in the street, it is she who would change the sidewalk, huh! It’s part of the absurdities of this profession (…) We are still adult people, and when we have a little intelligence, we talk to each other..“, regretted the host at the microphone of RTL.