Dismissal of the appeal against the decision on provisional debt enforcement

Facts

The Sparkasse Y. in Germany pursued X., domiciled in Switzerland, for an amount of CHF 3,161,400.- plus interest by means of a payment order dated March 5, 2008. The claim was based on a guarantee contract in which B., Germany, was agreed as the place of jurisdiction. X. filed an objection.

At the request of Sparkasse Z. (the legal successor of Sparkasse Y.), the President of the District Court of Lucerne-Land granted provisional debt enforcement on September 2, 2009. X. unsuccessfully appealed to the High Court of the Canton of Lucerne.

X. filed a civil law appeal with the Federal Supreme Court and requested that the decision on provisional debt enforcement be set aside and that the request not be considered, as the Swiss court lacked local jurisdiction.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that the provisional debt enforcement falls within the scope of the Lugano Convention and is to be subsumed under Art. 16 para. 5 of the Lugano Convention. Thus, the place of jurisdiction for the provisional debt enforcement is mandatory and cannot be derogated by a jurisdiction agreement.

The Federal Supreme Court upheld its established case law, according to which the…