Facts
On April 13, 2015, B. (plaintiff, respondent) filed a partial claim against A. Insurance AG (defendant, appellant) with the District Court of Willisau with a maximum value in dispute of CHF 30,000. The defendant then filed a negative declaratory counterclaim, the value of which would have required the ordinary procedure.
The District Court and the Cantonal Court of Lucerne did not enter into the counterclaim, as its value exceeded the framework of the simplified procedure. The appellant A. Insurance AG challenged this as being contrary to federal law.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court set aside the contested judgment and decided that the counterclaim should be entered into. It stated that Art. 224 para. 1 CPC generally prevents the defendant from filing a counterclaim with a value in dispute over CHF 30,000 in the simplified procedure. However, this does not apply to the case where the defendant files a negative declaratory counterclaim in response to a genuine partial claim, even if its value results in the applicability of the ordinary procedure.
The Federal Supreme Court justified this by stating that the negative declaratory counterclaim is not an ordinary counterclaim asserting an independent…