Višje sodišče v Mariboru; 2016-11-14; I Cp 960/2016
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:SI:VSMB:2016:I.CP.960.2016
Date: 2016-11-14
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Slovenia

82016SI1114(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
The plaintiff, domiciled in Germany and having temporary residence in Slovenia, concluded a loan agreement with the defendant, domiciled in Austria. The parties agreed to repay the money in the Republic of Slovenia.
The Okrajno sodišče v Ljutomeru (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) dismissed the action brought by the plaintiff against the defendant referring to the ZMZPP (1), concluding that the place of performance of the obligation was in Germany according to the plaintiff’s domicile.
The Višje sodišče v Mariboru (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’), following the plaintiff’s appeal, concluded that the Court of First Instance infringed upon the rules of procedure by neglecting to apply the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (2), as the dispute arose between parties both domiciled in Member States of the European Union. The regulation provides several principles on which jurisdictional disputes such as the present one shall be resolved (for example the principles laid down by Article 4 and Article 5(1)). Furthermore, it is necessary to serve the defendant with the action filed against him, which had not been done in the present case, since another option for the determination of jurisdiction is provided by Article 26 of the Regulation, according to which ‘a court of a Member State before which a defendant enters an appearance shall have jurisdiction’. To serve the defendant with the documents instituting the proceedings is a fundamental requirement in this respect.
Since the jurisdiction was assessed by the Court of First Instance erroneously, the appeal was granted, and the first instance decision was annulled.
(1) Zakon o mednarodnem zasebnem pravu in postopku (Law on Private International Law and 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.