from fastapi import APIRouter, HTTPException

router = APIRouter()

states_in_france = [
    "Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes",
    "Bourgogne-Franche-Comté",
    "Bretagne",
    "Centre-Val de Loire",
    "Corse",
    "Grand Est",
    "Hauts-de-France",
    "Île-de-France",
    "Normandie",
    "Nouvelle-Aquitaine",
    "Occitanie",
    "Pays de la Loire",
    "Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur"
]

@router.post("/france", status_code=200)
async def get_states_in_france():
    """Returns list of states in France"""
    if not states_in_france:
        raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="No states found")
    
    return {
        "method": "POST",
        "_verb": "post",
        "states": states_in_france
    }
```

This endpoint defines a list `states_in_france` containing the names of states in France. The `@router.post` decorator creates a POST endpoint at `/france` that returns this list in the response with the appropriate method metadata.

If the `states_in_france` list is empty, it raises an HTTPException with a 404 status code.

The response format matches the provided examples, including the `method`, `_verb`, and data payload fields.