AG Frankfurt; 2018-02-15; 31 C 1993/17 (39)
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:DE:AGFFM:2018:0215.31C1993.17.39.00
Date: 2018-02-15
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Germany

82018DE0215(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
A private person (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’) filed an action against an air carrier domiciled in the United Kingdom (hereinafter ‘the defendant’) seeking to be paid both their own and assigned claims for compensation.
The plaintiff and two of his family members booked a flight from New York through London to Vienna. The first leg from New York to London took place as planned. However, they were not transported from London to Vienna. The reason for this was disputed between the parties. The plaintiff and his two family members subsequently booked a flight from London to Frankfurt am Main where they finally landed.
According to the plaintiff, the court holding local jurisdiction was the Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’), as the defendant operated a branch office there.
The defendant challenged both the international and the local jurisdictions of the Court of First Instance.
The action was found to be inadmissible.
Contrary to the opinion of the plaintiff, the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance did not follow from Article 7(5) of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (1), as the dispute was not connected to the operations of the respective branch office in Frankfurt am Main. Any claims for compensation were dealt with by the branch office in Bremen, which was also specified on the German-language version of the website of the air carrier as the contact place for any claims for compensation.
Nor was it possible for the plaintiff to rely on Vienna as the place of destination.
In addition, no jurisdiction over consumer contracts under Article 18(1) of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) existed in this dispute. The plaintiff and the defendant had not entered into any travel agreement that would provide for a combination of transport and accommodation services for a set price.
The Court of First Instance dismissed the action of the plaintiff.
(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.