Harju Maakohus; 2021-11-24; 2-20-129132/14
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:EE:HMK:2021:2.20.129132.23753
Date: 2021-11-24
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Estonia

82021EE1124(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
This case regards a question of international jurisdiction in a civil case addressed to the Harju Maakohus (hereinafter ‘Court of First Instance in Harju’).
A debt collection company domiciled in Estonia (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’) applied to the Pärnu Maakohus (hereinafter ‘Court of First Instance in Pärnu’) for a payment order against a natural person (hereinafter ‘the defendant’) due to outstanding debt. The Court of First Instance in Pärnu transferred the case to the Court of First Instance in Harju.
The Court of First Instance in Harju has sent the documents instituting the proceedings to the defendant’s address in Estonia which the plaintiff had provided, but the documents were returned to the court as not served. Subsequently, the defendant indicated that he is currently domiciled in another Member State of the European Union. The court found that the claim was assigned to the plaintiff by a third party - a commercial company, which had concluded a consumer contract with the defendant. The plaintiff’s application showed no valid agreement on jurisdiction between the parties.
The Court of First Instance in Harju referred to the TsMS (1) and invoked its Article 75(1), according to which the court seised shall examine whether the application may be submitted to an Estonian court under the rules of international jurisdiction.
Under these circumstances, the Court of First Instance in Harju relied on Article 4(1) and Article 17(1) of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (2). It held that the present action might only be brought against the defendant in the country of his current domicile, which is not Estonia.
Therefore, the plaintiff’s action was dismissed as inadmissible for a lack of jurisdiction of the Estonian courts.
(1) Tsiviilkohtumenetluse seadustik (Code of Civil Procedure).
(2) Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.