Court of Justice of the European Union Rules on Questions of International Jurisdiction in Cartel Damages Cases

In a landmark judgment handed down on May 21, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU” or the “Court”) issued a long-awaited decision on several jurisdictional issues in multinational cartel damages cases (Case C-352/13 – CDC).

The judgment will be of major importance to numerous pending and forthcoming lawsuits. In the European Union (“EU”), actions for damages brought by alleged victims following cartel decisions by the European Commission or other national competition authorities (so-called “follow-on actions”) have been on the rise for years. The question of jurisdiction over these cases, which often span multiple jurisdictions, had been unresolved to date. The judgment focuses on the interpretation of Regulation (EC) No. 44/2001 (“Brussels I Regulation”). It will nevertheless equally be applicable to cases which were initiated after January 10, 2015, and, thus, fall under the recast Regulation (EU) No. 1215/2012 (“Brussels Ibis Regulation”).

For additional information, please do not hesitate to contact Dirk Schroeder (dschroeder@cgsh.com), Romina Polley (rpolley@cgsh.com), Rüdiger Harms (rharms@cgsh.com), Elisabeth Macher (emacher@cgsh.com), Johannes Schmidt (joschmidt@cgsh.com) or Julian Alexander Sanner (jsanner@cgsh.com) in the Firm’s German Offices or any of your regular contacts at the firm or any of the partners or counsel listed under Antitrust and Competition or Litigation and Arbitration in the “Practices” section of the website.