Facts
The case concerns a counterclaim filed by a company (the appellant) against a foreign insolvency administrator (the respondent). The counterclaim aimed to unwind a settlement and distribution agreement that had previously been concluded between the parties.
The settlement and distribution agreement regulated the avoidance claims of the German bankruptcy estate against the appellant. As part of this agreement, the appellant had undertaken to surrender a portion of its assets for realization and satisfaction of the creditors to the bankruptcy estate.
With its counterclaim, the appellant now demanded the unwinding of this agreement, as the acquisition of a property located in Switzerland by the insolvency administrator, in the appellant's view, would have required a permit under the Federal Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Persons Abroad.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court concluded that the counterclaim, due to its bankruptcy-related nature, does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Swiss courts.
On the one hand, the counterclaim is, in terms of its purpose, a consequence of the insolvency proceedings opened in Germany and is closely related to the realization of an asset located in Switzerland. Thus, it is an inseparable consequence of the inadmissible attempt by the parties to subject this asset to the foreign…