Only one bite at the cherry: Appealing a default judgment of the General Court to the Court of Justice, and simultaneously asking the General Court under the specific remedy to set aside its own default judgment is not permitted: Eulex Kosovo v SC (Case C-785/22 P)

 

 

Antje Kunst*

* Antje Kunst is an international lawyer and barrister of Pavocat Chambers, admitted to the Bar of England and Wales, and the Bar of Berlin, advising and representing individuals in a wide range of matters related to the CFSP, including employment cases. She has appeared in numerous cases before both the Court of Justice and the General Court, within the Court of Justice of the European Union. She was Counsel for SC in the Eulex Kosovo case.

Photo credit: George Chernilevsky, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Introduction

On 18 January 2024 in Eulex Kosovo v SC (Case C-785/22 P), a case that has been before the EU courts since 2017, the Court of Justice ruled that an appeal against a default judgment of the General Court is inadmissible before the Court of Justice if dual proceedings are brought to both EU courts. In other words, appealing a default judgment of the General Court to the Court of Justice, and simultaneously asking the General Court to set aside its own default judgment, is not permitted.

Until now, there was no case law on this precise type of situation, and hence, the Court of Justice’s judgment is highly significant for EU procedural law as a gap in the case law has now been closed.

Previously in October 2022, the General Court issued a default judgment in Case T-242/17 RENV, in favour of SC – a former member of contract staff of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (Eulex Kosovo) – following the failure of Eulex Kosovo to file a defence, in this case.  The failure to file a defence occurred in referral proceedings after a successful appeal before the Court of Justice in Case C-730/18 SC v Eulex Kosovo, at a time the case was already ongoing for four years.

In November and December 2022, Eulex Kosovo filed not only for that default judgment of the General Court under Article 166 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court (RPGC) to be set aside by the General Court itself,  but also brought appeal proceedings against that default judgment of the General Court to the Court of Justice, with the consequence that not only the General Court but also the Court of Justice became seized of the same subject matter. As a result, SC had to defend against not only an opposition in proceedings before the General Court, but also an appeal in proceedings before the Court of Justice.

Default judgment which is the subject of an application to set it aside is not a final decision

The judgment by the Court of Justice in Case C-785/22 P clarifies that it followed from its own Statute that an appeal is admissible only against a final decision of the General Court, with respect to which no other legal remedies remain open (para. 29 of the judgment). It also clarified that ‘[s]ince the exercise of such a remedy has the effect of re-opening the proceedings before the General Court, a default judgment which has been the subject of an application to set it aside cannot be regarded as a final decision, within the meaning of Article 56 of its Statute’. Consequently, it followed that an appeal brought against a default judgment which is the subject of an application to set it aside is inadmissible (paras. 31 and 32 of the judgment).

To have two bites at the cherry is not permitted

In an entirely other case, Advocate General (AG) Emiliou delivered an Opinion on the same day, i.e. in Case C-766/21 P, Parliament v Axa Assurances Luxembourg and Others stating that ‘[p]ermitting the use of two legal remedies in parallel would be tantamount to allowing a defendant in default to have two bites at the cherry – or, to continue with the metaphor, to ride two trains at the same time’. The AG added to allow this would be against the principle of equality of arms asking the correct question: ‘how could it be permissible for a party, which had failed to participate at first instance, to nonetheless have the possibility to pursue one remedy before the General Court, and another remedy before the Court of Justice, both ultimately seeking the same outcome?’ (Para. 108, Opinion of Advocate General Emiliou, Case C‑766/21 P, European Parliament v Axa Assurances Luxembourg SA, Bâloise Assurances Luxembourg SA, La Luxembourgeoise SA, Nationale-Nederlanden Schadeverzekering Maatschappij NV, ECLI:EU:C:2024:63).

The AG in that case made another important point, in that allowing parallel proceedings could cause confusion as to the suitable remedy in a particular case and contribute to the escalation of costs for any party involved in parallel procedures (para. 109 of his Opinion).

Appeal may be admissible against a default judgment if the opposition is late

The Court of Justice in Case C-785/22 P, Eulex Kosovo v SC nonetheless stated that an appeal against a default judgment may be admissible before it if the party has not asked for the General Court to set aside its own judgment within the prescribed time limit of one month pursuant to Article 166 RPGC.

Whilst this was not the situation in Eulex Kosovo v SC, given that a request was made in time by the defendant to the General Court for itself to set aside its default judgment, the Court of Justice did state that if such a situation were to arise, such an appeal would be inadmissible during the time the default judgment is not yet final, but could be regularised, i.e. upon expiry of that time limit (para. 33 of the judgment) ‘if that legal remedy has not be exercised’. Thus, according to the Court of Justice, there is an exception to the rule if the party does not comply with the time limit to file an opposition or does not file an opposition at all, it can appeal the default judgment, once it is final, before the Court of Justice.

Unhealthy choice of legal remedies

To leave a choice of remedies to the defendant, i.e. either to pursue an application to set aside a default judgment based on Article 166 RPGC before the General Court, or an appeal against such a judgment before the Court of Justice, is problematic. It is even more problematic to allow an appeal, when the defendant does not manage to file an opposition within the stipulated time limit of the specific legal remedy under Article 166 RPGC, i.e. one month.

Specific remedy in Article 166 RPGC

In view of the considerations, AG Emiliou, fully aware of the Court’s reasoning in Case C-785/22 P, Eulex Kosovo v SC (see para. 102 of his Opinion), in his Opinion in Case  C‑766/21 P, Parliament v Axa Assurances Luxembourg and Others is entirely correct in stating that a defendant in default cannot lodge an appeal against a first-instance decision because of the requirement to make use of the specific remedy set out in Article 166 RPGC. ‘The two procedural avenues are […] not only alternatives and mutually exclusive, but also not interchangeable. […] to lodge an appeal, a party must fulfil the formal requirements outlined in Article 56 of the Statute, in essence, mandating participation at first instance. […] a defendant in default does not fulfil that criterion. Any attempt to bring a successful appeal would seem futile.’ (See paras. 101, 103 and 104 of the Opinion of AG Emiliou).

An appeal against a default judgment before the Court of Justice will regularly unduly prolong proceedings before the EU courts, with a possible referral back to the General Court due to the incomplete provisional appraisal of the facts, within the procedure for default judgments inaudita altera parte. The consequences for applicants will be an unreasonable length of adjudication of their cases before the CJEU, and of course, escalating their costs.

In order to avoid that defendants more often fail to file a defence in the initial proceedings, despite being requested to do so, the tight time limit of one month of the specific remedy set out in Article 166 RPGC must be adhered to by defendants. There should not be available another train which can be taken later, i.e. an appeal of the default judgment after two months, if the train to the General Court is missed to use the metaphor of AG Emiliou. The Court of Justice is not the correct forum to set aside a default judgment as it is bound to address points of law only. It must be left to the General Court to conduct the adversarial procedure in which the principle audi alteram partem is respected with a complete appraisal of the facts after it has not in the default procedure. (see also paras. 106 and 107 of the Opinion of AG Emiliou).

In the end, the view of Advocate General Emiliou can only be agreed with, in that ‘the procedural avenue permitting a defendant in default to submit an application to have set aside a judgment by default before the General Court is the most appropriate (rectius, the only) course of action that such a party may use in such circumstances.’

There is only one train and if missed, there is no other train.