Jurisdiction of the District Court of Surselva for claims by Swiss condominium owners, but not for claims by foreign condominium owners

Facts

The members of the interest group (IG) Y., who are the condominium owners of the aparthotel "Y." in C., have filed a lawsuit against X.Y. AG and its Chairman of the Board of Directors Dr. A. They demand the payment of rent for the management of their apartments as well as the surrender of the gross revenue from the accommodation after the hotel operation was discontinued.

The District Court of Surselva did not enter into the claim due to lack of local jurisdiction. However, the Cantonal Court of Graubünden overturned this decision and declared the District Court of Surselva to be locally competent.

The appellants requested the Federal Court not to enter into the claim, as there was a violation of Art. 23 GestG.

Considerations

In assessing the local jurisdiction, the Federal Court distinguishes between domestic matters and international matters:

For the claims of the respondents with domicile in Switzerland (No. 1, 2 and 4a of the legal claim), the jurisdiction of the District Court of Surselva results from Art. 23, 7 para. 2 and 25 GestG.

For the claims of the other respondents with domicile abroad, the jurisdiction is determined according to the Lugano Convention. For No. 1 of the legal claim (rent), Art. 16 para. 1 let. a CL applies, according to which the courts at the place of the property are competent. Since the PILA does not provide for a special place of jurisdiction for rental disputes, the courts at the domicile of the defendant or at the place of performance are…