Nejvyšší soud; 2019-05-28; 20 Cdo 2209/2018
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:CZ:NS:2019:20.CDO.2209.2018.2
Date: 2019-05-28
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Czechia

82019CZ0528(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
This case regards a question of admissibility of the recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment resolved by the Nejvyšší soud (hereinafter ‘the Supreme Court’).
Three relatives and survivors of a victim killed in a motor vehicle accident, which took place in the Czech Republic, invoked the motor vehicle insurance of the deceased person and sought the insurance payment as compensation for alleged non-material damage from an insurance company domiciled in the Czech Republic (hereinafter ‘the defendant’). The dispute was brought before the courts in Genoa (Italy), which granted the application and ordered the defendant to pay the compensation to the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs applied before the Okresní soud v Pardubicích (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) for recognition and enforcement of the Italian judgments. The Court of First Instance granted the application and declared the judgments enforceable in the Czech Republic.
The Krajský soud v Hradci Králové (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’) upheld the first instance decision, only correcting the sums of payments due to the partially uncertain amounts provided in the Italian judgments. The Court of Appeal considered all formalities requested by the Brussels I Regulation (1) as completed. The plaintiffs complied with the requirements set out in Article 53(1) of this Regulation and, pursuant to Article 55(1), they provided an equivalent document to the certificate referred to in Article 54 of the Regulation. The Court of Appeal found no grounds specified in Article 34 and 35 of the Regulation to refuse the recognition. The defendant argued that the recognition would be manifestly contrary to Czech public policy pursuant to Article 34(1) of the Brussels I Regulation. At the time of the accident Czech law did not allow compensation for non-material damage to the survivors of an insured victim from motor vehicle insurance. Such claim should be addressed only to the person liable for the accident. However, the Court of Appeal held that the mere fact that Czech and Italian legislation differs does not justify the application of the public policy clause. The insurance payment for the survivors, on the basis of a valid insurance contract, which was still within the maximum insurance cover agreed, cannot be understood as a breach of Czech public policy. Furthermore, Article 45(2) of the Brussels I Regulation provides that ‘under no circumstance may the foreign judgment be reviewed as to its substance’.
The defendant filed a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court arguing by errors in law, by a wrongful application of the Brussels I Regulation, and by omission the fact that the accident occurred before the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union which excludes application of European law.
The Supreme Court confirmed the principle under which the mere fact that a difference between two legal orders exists cannot be understood as breach of public policy clause. The same principle applies to this dispute, as correctly considered by the Court of Appeal. Moreover, the fact whether the defendant was correctly held liable to pay the insurance payment cannot be assessed during the recognition and enforcement proceedings, since it conflicts with the prohibition of review of the foreign judgment clearly stipulated by the Brussels I Regulation. The Supreme Court also confirmed that the formalities required by that Regulation were successfully completed. The decision of the Court of Appeal was given in accordance with the settled case-law and established decision-making practice of the Supreme Court, so no grounds justifying the cassation appeal were found.
The cassation appeal was dismissed.
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.