PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

OLG Schleswig, 4.12.2014 – 5 U 89/14

Details of the court

Germany, Second Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

03 December 2012

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

The parties argued about damage claims. The claimant had been involuntarily included in the process of debt restructuring by the defendant. The defendant had performed these re-structuring activities on the basis of a law that had been adopted by the Greek parliament. This law under certain cir-cumstances allowed including bondholders in restructuring measures even if they had rejected a previous exchange offer regarding their bonds. The claimant’s bonds in this process have been reduced in amount by around 50 percent after they partly had been seized by the Bank of Greece. The first instance court denied the international jurisdiction of German courts. The second instance court affirmed the first instance court’s judgment. It held that before examining international jurisdic-tion pursuant to Brussels I courts generally were obliged to consider their jurisdiction in view of the principle of State Im-munity. In the present case this principle was concerned be-cause the matter of dispute concerned the adoption of a law and its execution. Therefore the principle of State Immunity opposed the international jurisdiction of German courts. The court further held that even in the hypothetical case of an applicability of Brussels I there was no venue pursuant to Art. 5 no. 3 Brussels I because place where the harmful event occurred was Greece. The mere financial loss couldn’t establish a venue in Germany. It is doubtful whether the principle of State Immunity is contrary to the application of Brussels I. The Federal Court of Justice will decide on this issue in March 2016.