LG Bremen; 2020-04-03; 3 O 1581/18
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:DE:LGHB:2020:0403.3O1581.18.00
Date: 2020-04-03
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Germany

82020DE0403(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
A subcontractor domiciled in Germany (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’) applied that a decision issued by a court in Baku, Azerbaijan (hereinafter ‘the decision of Baku’), be declared enforceable. By the decision of the court in Baku, the respective court ordered a German company (hereinafter ‘the defendant’) to pay compensation relating to a construction project in Baku due to insufficiently secured roof components.
The defendant claimed that the decision of the court in Baku could not be declared enforceable in Germany as no agreement between the two countries regarding the reciprocal acknowledgement of court decisions existed.
The Landgericht Bremen (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) as the court seised under Article 25 of the Brussels I Regulation (1) upheld the action stating that the decision of the Baku court could be a relevant subject of an action demanding the declaration of enforceability. As proved by the translated reasoning of the decision, the decision of the court in Baku was evidently a decision made by a state court based on a public oral hearing.
In addition, the decision of the Baku court was found to be legally effective. The formal effectiveness according to the laws of the state of the origin of the decision was sufficient.
Contrary to the opinion of the defendant, the declaration could not be prevented by the alleged breach of German public policy. It was true that this claim had to be examined by the Court of First Instance ex officio, but the Court of First Instance was obliged to solely rely on facts presented by the parties. It was not obvious that the argumentation made by the defendant within the proceedings in Baku would not have been considered. In addition, the defendant had the opportunity to have its arguments re-examined within an appellate proceeding.
The Court of First Instance declared the decision of the court in Baku to be enforceable in Germany.
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.