Case C‑649/16

Peter Valach and Others

v

Waldviertler Sparkasse Bank AG and Others

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Oberster Gerichtshof)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 — Scope — Action for liability in tort against the members of a committee of creditors which rejected a restructuring plan in insolvency proceedings)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 20 December 2017

1.        Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters — Regulation No 1215/2012 — Scope — Matters excluded — Bankruptcy, proceedings relating to the winding-up of insolvent companies or other legal persons, judicial arrangements, compositions and analogous proceedings — Definition — Actions which derive directly from insolvency proceedings and are closely connected with them — Applicability of Regulation No 1346/2000

(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1215/2012, Art. 1(2)(b); Council Regulation No 1346/2000)

2.        Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters — Regulation No 1215/2012 — Scope — Matters excluded — Bankruptcy, proceedings relating to the winding-up of insolvent companies or other legal persons, judicial arrangements, compositions and analogous proceedings — Scope — Action for liability in tort brought against the members of a committee of creditors because of their conduct in voting in insolvency proceedings — Excluded — Applicability of Regulation No 1346/2000

(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1215/2012, Art. 1(2)(b); Council Regulation No 1346/2000)

1.      See the text of the decision.

(see paras 26, 27)

2.      Article 1(2)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters must be interpreted as meaning that it applies to an action for liability in tort brought against the members of a committee of creditors because of their conduct in voting on a restructuring plan in insolvency proceedings, and that such an action is therefore excluded from the scope ratione materiae of that regulation.

(see para. 40, operative part)