Tribunal Supremo. Sala de lo Civil; 2022-03-15; ATS 4029/2022
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:ES:TS:2022:4029A
Date: 2022-03-15
Subject matter: Brussels Convention of 27 September 1968;Judicial cooperation in civil matters;Lugano Convention
Origin: Spain

82022ES0315(52)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
This decision regards the admissibility of a cassation appeal addressed to the Tribunal Supremo (hereinafter ‘the Supreme Court’).
The Sección Tercera de la Audiencia Provincial de Mérida (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’), by its order, refused an appeal lodged by one of the parties (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’) against a previous decision of the Juzgado de Primera Instancia e Instrucción n.º 5 de Mérida (hereinafter ‘Court of First Instance’). The appeal was grounded on an alleged infringement of procedural rules.
The plaintiff subsequently filed a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court alleging a procedural infringement under Article 469(1)(3) and Article 461(5) of the LEC (1), which led to an erroneous conclusion of the Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court specified that under Article 477(2) of the LEC and following procedural rules of the Supreme Court, a cassation complaint could only be lodged against a limited range of decisions. Generally, it cannot be filed against the orders, decisions which do not take the form of a judgment and judgments which deal only with the incidental issues. The only exception is the cassation complaint lodged against the orders issued in proceedings on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments under the Brussels Convention (2), the Lugano Convention (3), the Brussels I Regulation (4), the Brussels II Regulation (5) or other similar rules related to the instrument of international law. In the present case, none of the exceptions apply.
The appeal must also be held inadmissible for failure to comply with the conditions laid down in Article 477(1) and Article 481 of the LEC, in so far as it was not sufficiently reasoned and lacked clarity and precision in the identifying the substantive rule or general principle alleged to have been infringed.
Therefore, the Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeal.
(1) Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil (Civil Procedure Act).
(2) Brussels Convention on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.
(3) Convention on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters - Done at Lugano on 16 September 1988.
(4) Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.
(5) Council Regulation (EC) No 1347/2000 of 29 May 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and in matters of parental responsibility for children of both spouses.