Louis Renault died in custody before trial, and France took his company without paying his heirs

Louis Renault ran the car company he had founded with his brothers. Accused of industrial collaboration with Germany, he answered a judge's summons on 23 September 1944, was charged with harming the external security of the state, and was jailed at Fresnes. On 5 October he was moved to the Ville-Evrard psychiatric hospital and on 9 October, in a coma, to a private clinic. He died on 24 October 1944, aged 67, without a trial. No autopsy was done; the official cause was uremia. An ordinance of 16 January 1945 dissolved the company and created the Régie Nationale des Usines Renault. The shares of Louis Renault and the directors were confiscated without compensation; small shareholders were paid. His widow and son reportedly held about 95% of the stock^†. In 1956 his widow said guards had beaten him, and the body was exhumed. Her murder complaint ended without charges in 1957. In 2011 seven grandchildren sued the state for compensation and challenged the 1945 ordinance as unconstitutional. The Paris court declared itself without jurisdiction on 11 January 2012. The Paris court of appeal agreed on 21 November 2012, and the Cour de cassation refused the appeal on 2 July 2013. An administrative claim also failed: on 4 May 2016 the Conseil d'État held it barred by a four-year limit set in 1945. In 2026 the family has received no compensation for the confiscation, and Renault Group is listed in Paris with the French state among its shareholders^†.