Oberster Gerichtshof, Urteil vom 29/01/2002 1 Ob 4/02y
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:AT:OGH0002:2002:RS0116357
Date: 2002-01-29
Subject matter: Lugano Convention
Origin: Austria

82002AT0129(07)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE SUMMARY
JURE SUMMARY
The plaintiff has its seat in Austria, the seat of the defendant is in Uzbekistan, a non-Contracting State of the Lugano Convention. The plaintiff was allegedly assigned claims against the defendant by its legal predecessor. According to the allegations of the plaintiff, its legal predecessor had concluded a jurisdiction agreement with the defendant in favour of the courts of Austria. As the Austrian lower courts denied jurisdiction, the plaintiff appealed to the OGH (AT).
The OGH (AT) dismisses the plaintiff's appeal. It holds that the assignment always has to be determined according to the national law applicable in each case. According to the applicable Austrian law, in cases of individual as well as universal succession, a jurisdiction agreement between the legal predecessor of the plaintiff is passed over to the legal successor and is also effective towards him. However, for a jurisdiction agreement according to Article 17(1) Lugano Convention, it is not sufficient that one party having its seat in a Contracting State stipulates the jurisdiction of the court of the former with a party domiciled in a non-Contracting State. Rather, Article 17(1) Lugano Convention shall only be applied in such cases if, in the view of the Austrian judge, the domicile of a party or the agreed forum is not situated in Austria but in another Contracting State. As the plaintiff having its seat in Austria had stipulated a forum in Austria with the defendant having its seat in a non-Contracting State, Article 17(1) Lugano Convention does not apply in the present case.