OGH; 2019-01-23; 3 Ob 3/19s
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:AT:OGH0002:2019:0030OB00003.19S.0123.000
Date: 2019-01-23
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Austria

82019AT0123(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
Thirty-two natural persons domiciled in Austria (hereinafter ‘the plaintiffs’) sought damages from a bank established in Denmark (hereinafter ‘the defendant’) for breach of the contractual due diligence obligations in connection with the cancellation of the minimum exchange rate of the Swiss franc against the euro.
The defendant raised the objection of pending international litigation (proceedings initiated at the Maritime and Commercial Court of Copenhagen in Denmark) pursuant to Article 17 of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (1).
The Oberlandesgericht Wien (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’) amended the decision of the Court of First Instance, based on Article 29(1) of the Brussels I Regulation (recast), and admitted the plaintiffs' action in the part concerning the execution of the plaintiffs’ orders at less favourable prices than the prescribed stop prices (2). For the remaining part, the Court of Appeal based the suspending of proceedings on Article 30 of the Brussels I Regulation (recast).
The plaintiffs' appeal on points of law to the Oberster Gerichtshof der Republik Österreich (hereinafter ‘the Supreme Court’) is not admissible in the absence of a substantial question of law.
A parallel case is pending in the Landesgericht Linz (3) concerning six other plaintiffs against the same defendant with similar claims. The Senate of the Supreme Court has already clarified all legal issues in the parallel procedure (4). The appeal against the case of the six plaintiffs was unsuccessful.
The Supreme Court rejected the plaintiffs' extraordinary appeal on points of law in the absence of a substantial question of law.
(1) 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.
(2) Suspending of the proceedings until the final decision on the international jurisdiction of the Maritime and Commercial Court of Copenhagen in Denmark.
(3) Judgment of the Landesgericht Linz from 12. April 2018, GZ 45 Cg 1/18p.
(4) Judgment of the Oberster Gerichtshof der Republik Österreich, 3 Ob 176/18f, ECLI:AT:OGH0002:2018:0030OB00176.18F.1121.000.