OLG Frankfurt; 2015-09-17; 24 U 111/15
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:DE:OLGHE:2015:0917.24U111.15.0A
Date: 2015-09-17
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters;Lugano Convention
Origin: Germany

82015DE0917(53)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
A private person domiciled in Germany (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’) filed an action against a horse dealer domiciled in Switzerland (hereinafter ‘the defendant’) relating to purchase of a horse.
The Landgericht Darmstadt as the court seised (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) declared itself to be lacking international jurisdiction.
The court senate informed the plaintiff that its appeal filed with the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’) would be unsuccessful.
The international jurisdiction was subject to the provision of Article 64(2)(a) of the new Lugano Convention (1) for the parties to the dispute previously agreed under Article 23 of the new Lugano Convention that the courts of Switzerland would have the exclusive jurisdiction.
The Court of First Instance was correct to declare its lack of international jurisdiction due to the fact that the defendant had contested the initiation of the proceedings under Article 24 of the new Lugano Convention.
The requirement for the agreement on the place of jurisdiction to be in writing under Article 23(1)(3)(a) of the new Lugano Convention had been undoubtedly met. The respective purchase agreement containing the agreement on the place of jurisdiction was signed by both the plaintiff and the defendant.
In addition, the German courts did not have jurisdiction for consumer matters under Article 15(1)(c) of the new Lugano Convention as the defendant did not direct its activities to Germany.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of the plaintiff against the decision of the Court of First Instance for being inadmissible.
(1) Convention on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.