PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

LG Bonn, 26.6.2003 – 7 O 22/02

Details of the court

Germany, First Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

25 June 2003

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

The plaintiff is a company with its seat in Germany. The defendant is a Belgian company. The contract between the parties contained a jurisdiction clause giving jurisdiction to the regional court of Bonn, Germany. The defendant sued for payment before a court in Brussels, Belgium, on the 28th of November 2001. The plaintiff sued for a negative declaratory action stating that it is not liable before the court in Bonn on the 16th January 2002. The German court stayed its proceedings. The fact that the parties chose the german court to have exclusive jurisdiction does not influence the fact that the Belgian court was the court first seised. Whereas the court engaged with the argument that the Belgian case is not relevant since it is competent pursuant to the parties agreement, the court declines this. The matter of jurisdiction of the Belgian court has to be determined by the Belgian court itself and does not lie within the competence of the German. Until the Belgian court has done so, the court has to stay its proceedings because it is not the court first seised. The judgement is correct. The court intensively engaged with the opinions of academic scholars and the CJEU as well as with foreign courts.