ORDER OF THE CIVIL SERVICE TRIBUNAL (First Chamber)

22 June 2010

Case F-78/09

Luigi Marcuccio

v

European Commission

(Civil service — Officials — Action for damages — Reimbursement of costs — Availability of a parallel remedy — Manifestly inadmissible)

Application: brought under Articles 236 EC and 152 EA, in which Mr Marcuccio seeks, in particular, an order that the Commission pay compensation for the harm allegedly suffered as a result of its refusal to reimburse him the recoverable costs purportedly incurred in Case T‑18/04.

Held: The applicant’s action is dismissed as manifestly inadmissible. Each party is to bear its own costs.

Summary

1.      Officials — Actions — Action for damages — Application for annulment of the pre-litigation decision rejecting the claim for damages — Application not independent of the claim for damages

(Staff Regulations, Arts 90 and 91)

2.      Procedure — Costs — Taxation — Purpose

(Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal, Art. 92(1); Staff Regulations, Art. 91)

1.      An institution’s decision rejecting a claim for compensation forms an integral part of the preliminary administrative procedure which precedes an action to establish liability before the General Court. Consequently, claims for annulment of it cannot be assessed in isolation from the claims relating to compensation.

The measure setting out the position adopted by the institution during the pre-litigation stage only has the effect of allowing the party who has suffered damage to apply to the Court for compensation.

(see para. 17)

See:

T-90/95 Gill v Commission [1997] ECR-SC I‑A‑471 and II‑1231, para. 45; T‑77/99 Ojha v Commission [2001] ECR-SC I‑A‑61 and II‑293, para. 68; T‑209/99 Hoyer v Commission [2002] ECR-SC I‑A‑243 and II‑1211, para. 32

2.      The special procedure laid down in Article 92(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court, concerning the taxation of costs, excludes any claim for the same sums, or sums expended for the same purposes, in connection with proceedings alleging non-contractual liability of the Union.

Thus Article 92(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court prevents an applicant from bringing an action for damages, on the basis of Article 91 of the Staff Regulations, which has, in reality, the same subject-matter as an application for taxation of costs.

(see paras 20, 22)

See:

T-351/03 Schneider Electric v Commission [2007] ECR II‑2237, para. 297

F-70/07 Marcuccio v Commission [2009] ECR-SC I‑A‑1‑423 and II‑A‑1‑2293, paras 17 and 18