Europa A discharge into the French part of the Rhine of saline waste caused alleged damage to the horticultural business of the first plaintiff, and to the waters of the Rhine in general in the Netherlands.
Held: Both the place of the event giving rise to the damage and the place where the damage occurred constituted a significant connecting factor from the point of view of jurisdiction, and each of them could be particularly helpful from the point of view of evidence and the conduct of proceedings. Accordingly the plaintiff had an option to commence proceedings either at the place where the damage occurred or the place of the event giving rise to it. Where the place of the happening of the event which may give rise to liability in tort, delict or quasi-delict and the place where that event results in damage are not identical, the expression ‘place where the harmful event occurred’, in article 5(3) of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, must be understood as being intended to cover both the place where the damage occurred and the place of the event giving rise to it. The result is that the defendant may be sued, at the option of the plaintiff, either in the courts for the place where the damage occurred or in the courts for the place of the event which gives rise to and is at the origin of that damage.
Citations:
[1976] ECR 1375, C-21/76
Jurisdiction:
European
Cited by:
Cited – Henderson v Jaouen and Another CA 1-Feb-2002
The plaintiff had been injured in an accident and had sued and recovered damages for his injuries in France. Later, his condition deteriorated. In France he would have been able to revive his action to claim further damages, but he sought a similar . .
Cited – Mazur Media Limited and Another v Mazur Media Gmbh in Others ChD 8-Jul-2004
Proceedings were brought in England. The respondents sought a stay, saying the company was subject to insolvency proceedings in Germany.
Held: Our domestic insolvency law was not applicable to foreign proceedings, and so could not be used to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Jurisdiction
Updated: 03 February 2022; Ref: scu.132429
