LG Kleve; 2020-10-14; 2 O 252/19
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:DE:LGKLE:2020:1014.2O252.19.00
Date: 2020-10-14
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Germany

82020DE1014(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
The dispute dealt with by the Landgericht Kleve (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) concerned the right to be provided information regarding non-incurred taxes and fees relating to an air transport agreement if the passenger had not boarded the flight.
An assignee (hereinafter the ‘plaintiff’) who accepted the assignment of claims of several passengers regarding non-incurred taxes and fees, filed an action against an air carrier (hereinafter the ‘defendant’) demanding to be provided with the calculation of taxes and fees. The defendant challenged the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance and the applicability of the German law and demanded the action to be dismissed.
The Court of First Instance found the action admissible. The jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance and the international jurisdiction of the German courts followed from Article 5(1) and Article 7(1)(a) of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (1). The Court of First Instance was competent due to the fact that air passengers were free to choose the place of performance regarding the respective air transport agreements to be either at the place of departure or arrival.
According to the Court of First Instance, the German law was applicable under Article 5(2) of the Rome I Regulation (2) as the place of performance was in Germany (please see above) and the air passengers had their habitual residence in Germany.
The Court of First Instance found the action to be justified. Under the German law, an entitlement to be provided information exists if recipients of information lack, not by their own fault, clarity regarding the existence or scope of their rights and the obliged person is able to provide necessary information to clarify the situation without unreasonable difficulties. This was the case within these proceedings. Article 23(1) of the Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 (3) stipulates that an air carrier has to state the amount of taxes and fees in its booking reservation, which the defendant failed to do. For this reason, the plaintiff needed information regarding the amount of taxes and fees which had not been incurred. The Court of First Instance ordered the defendant to provide the requested information.
(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).
(3) Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 2008 on common rules for the operation of air services in the Community (Recast).