Case number and/or case name
AG Geldern, 27.10.2010 – 4 C 356/10
Details of the court
Germany, First Instance
Articles referred to by the court
Date of the judgement
26 October 2010
CJEU's case law cited by the court
Summary
The parties argued about damage claims from a traffic accident. The court had to consider whether the rules on the prima facie evidence could be applied given the case that the facts pursuant to Art 4 (1) Rome II were governed by foreign (here: Dutch) law.
The court stated that Art 22 Rome II-Regulation had to be interpreted autonomously as meaning that rules on the burden of proof were to be understood as substantial rules. This was valid even given the case that these rules were qualified as procedural ones according to national law. Art 22 Rome II further obliged the court charged with the dispute to consider not only written rules on the burden of proof in the foreign law. Courts were also obliged to apply assumptions that had been established by the foreign jurisdiction that serve as a justification for a prima facie evidence.