JURE summary

JURE summary

AA, a British citizen, brought an action before the Tribunal Judicial de Cuba against BB, also a British citizen, seeking a declaration of enforceability on a judgment issued by the Queen's Bench Division Royal Court of Justice, which ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff a given amount of money. The Portuguese court of first instance issued the declaration of enforceability.

The defendant appealed to the Tribunal da Relação de Évora, which dismissed the challenge. The defendant then appealed on the point of law to the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, arguing that the judgement was issued in default appearance and he was not duly served. Moreover, the defendant argues that the certificate issued and brought forward in the case -file records is not in compliance with Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (“Brussels I Regulation”). As such, the defendant argues that the decision issued violated Article 34(2) and Articles 41, 45, 53, 54 and 58 of the Brussels I Regulation. The plaintiff presented a certificate issued by the Queen's Bench Division Royal Court of Justice pursuant to Articles 54 and 58 of Brussels I Regulation, thus fulfilling the requirements of Article 53(2) and Article 54 of the Brussels I Regulation.

Article 38(1) of the Brussels I Regulation states that "judgment given in a Member State and enforceable in that State shall be enforced in another Member State when, on the application of any interested party, it has been declared enforceable there". Article 41 of the Brussels I Regulation states that "The judgment shall be declared enforceable immediately on completion of the formalities in Article 53 without any review under Articles 34 and 35. The party against whom enforcement is sought shall not at this stage of the proceedings be entitled to make any submissions on the application". The Supremo Tribunal de Justiça highlights that albeit the defendant is before the Portuguese courts, BB was the plaintiff before the Queen's Bench Division Royal Court of Justice, thus neither Article 34(2) nor Article 41 of the Brussels I Regulation are applicable. Moreover, the Portuguese court points out that the defendant was heard through his legal representative and as such was able to present a defence.

The Supremo Tribunal de Justiça dismissed the appeal on the point of law.