PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

OLG Stuttgart, 17.7.2009 – 6 U 79/09

Details of the court

Germany, Second Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

16 July 2009

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

The parties argued on claims from a loan contract. The plaintiff asserted that he has to be considered as a consumer within the meaning of Art. 15 Brussels I. He had taken up a loan from the defendant in order to finance the founding of a limited company whose manager he was going to become. The Regional Court denied the international jurisdiction pursuant to Art. 15 Brussels I which would have led to the international jurisdiction of French courts. It assumed the international jurisdiction of German courts pursuant to Art. 5 Brussels I. The Higher Regional Court confirmed this decision. The court held that the plaintiff couldn’t be considered as a consumer since by taking up the loan he had been acting for his profession and within the trade he was about to build. It is settled case law that every relation to profession or trade opposes the assumption of a consumer contract. The loan has been taken up in order to build a limited company. Therefore, the judgment is correct.