KG Berlin; 2019-03-19; 21 U 80/18
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:DE:KG:2019:0319.21U80.18.00
Date: 2019-03-19
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Germany

82019DE0319(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
The case concerns a dispute between an advertising agency (hereinafter 'the plaintiff') established in Berlin and a yacht charterer (hereinafter 'the defendant') established in Luxembourg. The parties entered into a contract for work, the object of which was the creation of a corporate design, a website and an image video to be shot in Mallorca.
The plaintiff provided the commissioned services, but the defendant was then not prepared to accept and pay for the video as being in accordance with the contract. Therefore, the plaintiff brought an action for the payment of a remaining fee of EUR 29_551.57 before the Landgericht Berlin (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’). The defendant challenged the international jurisdiction of the first instance, the applicability of German law and the contractual nature of the video. The Court of First Instance granted the action in its entirety.
Subsequently, the defendant appealed against the first instance decision, requesting an amendment in the sense of a dismissal of the claim. The plaintiff applied for dismissal of the appeal. The Court of Appeal decided that the international jurisdiction of the German courts was founded on the jurisdiction of the place of performance (Berlin) pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Brussels I Regulation (recast)  (1). And since it was a service contract, it was governed, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, by the law of the place where the service provider was established (Article 4(1)(b) of the Rome I Regulation (2)). After assessing the plaintiffs entitlement to remuneration, the readiness for acceptance and contractual character of the video and the exercise of the right to determine performance, the Court of Appeal dismissed the defendant's appeal, ordered the defendant to pay the costs of the appeal proceedings and declared the contested decision provisionally enforceable, with no right of appeal.
(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.
(2) Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I).