Thu, Oct. 17, 2019

Damages for Violation of Forum Selection Clause

.   On October 17, 2019, the highest German court for civil matters issued a ruling and a press release in the matter III ZR 42/19 on the liability for damages resulting from the vio­la­ti­on of a forum selection clause.

The parties bound any disputes resulting from their contract to a court in Bonn, Germany, but the plaintiff sued the defendant in Washington, DC. After spending $196,118 on its jurisdictional chal­len­ge, the defendant won a dismissal, the plaintiff sued in Bonn, and the defendant counter­clai­med for the expense incurred in its prior defense.

The Supreme Court in Karlsruhe, Bundesgerichtshof, ruled in the defendant's favor. A forum se­lec­ti­on clau­se is binding, its violation constitutes a breach of contract, and the necessary expense is proxima­te­ly cau­sed by the breach, it announced in its press release headlined Schadens­er­satz­an­spruch bei Verletzung einer Gerichtsstandvereinbarung durch Klage vor einem US-amerikanischen Gericht.


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