español Sentencia del Tribunal de Justicia de 5 de septiembre de 2024, asunto C–86/23 – HUK–COBURG–Allgemeine Versicherung II

Abstract

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issues two rulings on the same traffic accident that occurred in Germany in 2014, in which a Bulgarian citizen dies due to the recklessness of her husband, who was driving while intoxicated. In both cases, direct actions are brought in Bulgaria against the German insurance company HUK-COBURG. In the first judgement, in December 2022, the CJEU rejected the compensation in favour of the victim's daughters because, according to German law, they did not prove pathological damage. In the second judgement, it analysed the claim of the deceased's parents, who argued that the amount of compensation should be determined in accordance with the principle of equity under Bulgarian law, considered an internationally mandatory rule. To this end, the CJEU assesses whether Article 16 of the Rome II Regulation allows this rule to be applied instead of German law,
concluding that strict conditions must be met: a close link with Bulgaria, the legislator's intention to confer a mandatory character on the rule and the need to protect an essential public interest. It also reaffirms that internationally mandatory rules must be of necessary, but not immediate, application, avoiding conflicts with applicable law. The Court does not reach a conclusive decision, suggesting that the most appropriate way to apply Bulgaria