LG Dortmund; 2018-09-12; 8 O 21/17 Kart
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:DE:LGDO:2018:0912.8O21.17Kart.00
Date: 2018-09-12
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Germany

82018DE0912(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
The case examined by the Landgericht Dortmund (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) concerns a dispute between a transport and logistics company (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’) and the members of a so-called lorry cartel (hereinafter ‘the first and second defendants’) upon whom the European Commission imposed a fine; the third defendant, on the contrary, was not included in the fine. The first and second defendants agreed on their gross list prices for lorries with other lorry manufacturers and passed on the costs to the purchasers of lorries. The plaintiff allegedly purchased 3 lorries of the N1 category at a total value of approximately EUR 273 000 in 2010. The plaintiff raised a declaratory relief against the defendants in order to have their liability for compensation declared. The defendants requested that the declaratory relief be rejected, stating that the claim for performance takes priority. Furthermore, they brought the plaintiff’s purchase of the vehicles into question since it did not show proof of such. In addition, the first and second defendants claim that it is not evident whether these are new or used vehicles and whether they were within the infringement period determined by the Commission. They also disputed the applicability of German law, since the purchases took place in the Netherlands.
The Court of First Instance declared the claim against the third defendant to be inadmissible since the court lacks international jurisdiction (Article 7(2) of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (1)), inter alia.
The Court of First Instance deemed the claim against the first and second defendants to be admissible since the plaintiff thus achieves protection against limitation and its interest in a declaration of compensation for damages is justified. A declaratory relief in a claim for performance in the context of liability for damage claims is justified according to the Court of First Instance (BGH I ZR 277/00 Rn 17).
The Court of First Instance held the claim to be unfounded since the plaintiff provided neither further explanations regarding the alleged purchase of lorries nor additional documents. Furthermore, it did not address the statements of the defendants from the responses to the claim.
The Court of First Instance rejected the claim in its entirety.
(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.