HASSETT & DOHERTY

Case C-372/07,NYR, Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 2 October 2008

Jurisdiction – Companies – Validity of decisions of organs of companies – Exclusive jurisdiction – Courts of the State where the company has its seat – Medical practitioners' mutual defence organisation – Brussels Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 Point 2 of Article 22

This was a reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC, from the Supreme Court of Ireland. Two doctors had been joined as third parties to actions wherein patients Hassett and Doherty respectively claimed indemnities for medical negligence from the health boards employing the doctors. The health boards had the doctors joined to the actions in order to claim an indemnity or a contribution from them. The doctors in turn claimed from the Medical Defence Union any sums they might be ordered to pay to their employers as a result of the medical negligence proceedings. The original medical negligence claims were settled. The MDU declined to pay by a Board decision, referring to discretion prescribed by the Articles of Association. The doctors obtained an order joining the MDU to the proceedings as a third party. The MDU objected saying that the decisions by its organs fell under the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, its seat, rather than Ireland. The court ruled that point 2 of Article 22 of the Brussels Regulation is to be interpreted as meaning that proceedings in which one of the parties alleges that a decision adopted by an organ of a company has infringed rights that it claims under that company's Articles of Association, as opposed to challenging the power or competency of that organ to take the decision, do not concern the validity of the decisions of the organs of a company within the meaning of that provision.