Summary
Pursuant to Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000, Italian courts have jurisdiction over an action brought by the relatives of a man deceased in a road accident occurred in Romania in 2001 seeking reparation of losses suffered as a consequence of the death of the man from the Italian company lessee of the vehicle whose driver is responsible for the accident and its Italian insurance company, the location of the defendants’ seat in Italy being the necessary (and sufficient) condition for establishing Italian jurisdiction over the dispute, irrespective of the fact that the international element of the case (i.e. the place where the accident occurred) was in a then non-EU member State (i.e. Romania).
Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 providing a special head of jurisdiction in matter of torts does not apply to such action because it will result, in the case at issue, in the competence of the court of no member State.