PARIS — A French court Monday dismissed the case of a French-Vietnamese woman who sued 14 companies that produced and sold the powerful defoliant dioxin Agent Orange used by U.S. troops during the Vietnam War, her lawyers said.

The judicial court ruled that the case fell outside its jurisdiction as the defendants said they acted under the constraint of the U.S. government in wartime.

Tran To Nga, a 79-year-old former journalist, described in a book how she breathed Agent Orange in 1966, when she was a member of the Vietnamese Communists, or Viet Cong, that fought against South Vietnam and the United States. She is seeking damages for her multiple health problems, including cancer, and those of her children.