Decision on the Surrender of Items and their Enforcement

Facts

The parties [A.] and [B.] had married in 1990 and agreed on separation of property. After living together in various countries, [A.] moved to Switzerland in 2001 in the absence of her husband [B.] and took the household furnishings with her. Thereupon, [B.] obtained a summary judgment in the Netherlands, which obliged [A.] to surrender certain items. [B.] subsequently applied in Switzerland for the enforcement of this judgment.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court has decided:

- Insofar as the Dutch summary judgment concerns the jointly acquired items (para. 6), it is a provisional measure of interim legal protection, which is not enforceable under the Swiss PILA. The Cantonal Court wrongly based the enforcement on the PILA in this respect.

- For the items claimed by the husband as his sole property (para. 5), the Lugano Convention is applicable. The…