Oberlandesgericht Wien, Urteil vom 16/05/2003 13 R 82/03d
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:AT:OLG0009:2003:RW0000588
Date: 2003-05-16
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Austria

82003AT0516(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE SUMMARY
JURE SUMMARY
The Austrian plaintiff is the owner of a motor vehicle. The defendants are a motor vehicle liability insurance company, located in Germany, and its insured, respectively. The plaintiff brought an action before the Austrian court against the defendants as being jointly and severally liable for a traffic accident which occurred in Germany. The plaintiff had invoked the jurisdiction at the domicile of the injured party. The Court of First Instance dismissed the action, and the plaintiff appealed the decision.
The OLG of Vienna (AT) holds that the Austrian courts at the domicile of the plaintiff do not have jurisdiction. The plaintiff, who was injured in the traffic accident, is not the policy holder or the insured. Further, the plaintiff is not a beneficiary within the meaning of Article 11(2) and Article 9(1)(b) Brussels I Regulation, with the result that he cannot sue the insurer at his own domicile. Beneficiaries of motor insurance policies regularly have contractual claims against insurance companies, whereas the plaintiff's claim is a claim in tort. Hence, the plaintiff is not a privileged participant in the proceedings as mentioned in Article 9(1)(b) Brussels I Regulation. Also, the special jurisdiction, allowed under Article 10 Brussels I Regulation, in respect of the place where the harmful event occurred, does not mean that a plaintiff injured abroad can sue the insurer of the tortfeasor before the courts of the plaintiff’s state of domicile, in this case Austria. The connecting criteria of “place where the harmful event occurred” is to be interpreted in accordance with the principles developed for Article 5(3) Brussels I Regulation, under which the place where the damage first occurred is relevant, which in this case is Germany.