EUPillar LG Osnabrück, 15.5.2015

Summary

The parties argued about damage claims from government bonds. The defendant was Greece. The claimant had been included into the restructuring measures that accompanied the financial crisis in Greece. According to these measures, private investors could be compulsorily included into the debt restructuring process. It was doubtful whether German courts had the international jurisdiction to administer justice in this regard. The court held that the dispute was not governed by German jurisdiction because of the principle of state immunity as a general principle of public international law. The applicability of Brussels I Regulation did not have to be examined. The legislation as an actum iure imperii could not be subject to the jurisdiction of another state. The court stated that the state intervened by using his sovereignty into the relationship with its creditors that originally was of private character. (The higher instance, the Higher Regional Court of Oldenburg, decided in 2016 that German courts were not allowed to administer justice on the action concerning damage claims based on the intervention in the creditor’s position by the law No 4050/2012 and the connected compulsory restructuring measures due to the principle of state immunity. However, the Court also held that the German jurisdiction extended to actions that concerned repayment claims resulting from original government bonds. The repayment claims were to be assessed as a ‘civil and commercial matter’ within the Brussels I Regulation. The jurisdiction could be based on Art 5 no 1 (a) Brussels I = OLG Oldenburg, 18.4.2016 – 13 U 43/15).