Facts
The appellant [A.] resides in Australia. On 18 September 2014, the District Court of Aarau issued a judgment, which it published in the official gazette of the Canton of Aargau on 3 October 2014. The appellant claimed that the District Court had never requested him to designate a domicile for service in Switzerland. Nevertheless, the District Court had served its decisions by publication in the official gazette.
The High Court of the Canton of Aargau did not enter into the appellant's appeal against the judgment of the District Court, as it considered the judgment to be non-appealable. The appellant then filed a complaint with the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that the service of decisions by publication in the official gazette pursuant to Art. 141 para. 1 lit. c CPC requires that the addressee was previously instructed in a legally compliant manner to designate a Swiss domicile for service and was informed of the consequences of default in case of failure to do so. However, the files show that the appellant was never requested by the District Court to designate a domicile for service.
If it were true that the appellant was never effectively requested to designate a domicile for service in Switzerland and the procedural orders and the final judgment of…