Oberster Gerichtshof, Urteil vom 22/04/2010 8 Ob 78/09t
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:AT:OGH0002:2010:RS0125895
Date: 2010-04-22
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Austria

82010AT0422(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE SUMMARY
JURE SUMMARY
The parties are both creditors of an insolvent Austrian company. They are in a dispute as to whether the admission by the administrator of a claim registered by the defendant in the table of claims was correct. The administrator had initially disputed the claim registered by the defendant, but then recognised it. The claimant acquired the claims of other creditors, which had already been admitted, and then brought an action for a re-opening of the matter against the defendant before the Handelsgericht of Vienna (AT), seeking a repeal of the admission of the defendant's claim. The defendant referred to the fact that it had its seat in the Czech Republic and argued that the court lacked international jurisdiction.
The OLG of Vienna left the question of international jurisdiction open and dismissed the action on other grounds in Austrian law of civil procedure as inadmissible. The claimant lodged an appeal on a point of law to the OGH (AT).
The OGH overturns the prior instance judgment and remands the matter back for a fresh hearing. The OLG did not correctly decide the question of Austrian law of civil procedure which it had placed in the foreground. It holds that the Austrian courts have international jurisdiction. With respect to its action against another insolvency creditor for annulment of an admission of a claim in the table of claims in its favour, the claimant is exercising its right to participate in the insolvency proceedings. The action is closely related to the insolvency, wherefore it must be considered an insolvency matter, which pursuant to Article 1(2)(b) Brussels I Regulation is excluded from its scope of application and falls within the Insolvency Regulation. International jurisdiction follows out of Article 3(1) Insolvency Regulation, which grants the Member State in which the insolvency proceedings are opened international jurisdiction over actions which derive directly on the basis of, or are closely connected with, such proceedings.