Judecătoria Sector 4 Bucureşti; 2017-10-25; AVICOLA BUCUREŞTI SA, reclamant, şi SC HEPS AGRO SRL, pârât ; 9728/4/2017
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:RO:JDS4B:2017:001.013303
Date: 2017-10-25
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Romania

82017RO1025(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
This case regards a dispute examined by the Judecătoria Sector 4 Bucureşti (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’).
The plaintiff concluded a sales contract with the defendant for the agreed price of EUR 4 400. The plaintiff delivered all the goods agreed, but the defendant paid only EUR 1 600. Therefore, the plaintiff filed an action before the Court of First Instance demanding payment of EUR 2 800. The plaintiff relied on Article 194 et seq. of  C. proc. civ. (1) and Article 25 of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (2).
The Court of First Instance examined the case file documents and confirmed that the sales contract was concluded legally according to the law. According to the court, in disputes concerning contractual matters, the plaintiff need only prove the existence of the obligation. It is on the defendant to prove that the payment he undertook was completely paid. The plaintiff has no burden to prove the negative fact of non-payment of the price agreed.
In the present case, the plaintiff has proved the existence of the defendant’s obligation to pay for the delivery of goods based on the accounting records. Conversely, the defendant did not provide any evidence of fulfilling its obligation to pay the full price. Therefore, the Court of First Instance held the claim admissible and ordered the defendant to pay a debt amounting to EUR 2 800. As the parties agreed in the contract the damages for total or partial non-performance of the obligations, the Court of First Instance also awarded the plaintiff late payment penalties of 0,15 % per each day of delay.
(1) Codul de Procedură Civilă (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.