Die unionsrechtliche Zukunft des Schadensersatzes wegen Verletzung einer ausschließlichen Gerichtsstandsvereinbarung

The Future of Damages for Breach of an Exclusive Choice of Court Agreement in EU Law. Damages for breach of an exclusive choice-of-court agreement have fascinated legal scholars for quite some time. Once a peculiarity of the common law, the remedy is now also recognised in the legal systems of Spain and Germany. Recently, the EU-law dimension of the topic has come to the fore. However, despite a recent decision by the CJEU, the issue of whether damages for breach of an exclusive choice of court agreement are compatible with the Recast Brussels I Regulation has not yet been conclusively resolved. The article examines this question with regard to hurdles arising from the CJEU's case law on (quasi) anti-suit injunctions, hurdles arising from the law on recognition of a foreign judgment, and doctrinal hurdles. In carrying out this analysis, the principle of mutual trust serves as a key standard of assessment. Moreover, the fundamental rights dimension of the topic is examined for the first time. The article concludes that damages for breach of an exclusive choice of court agreement indeed have a future in the EU, but only where the derogated court has not already rendered a decision or declined its jurisdiction.