Kernrechtsfrage
Whether the Federal Court had jurisdiction because the amount in dispute reached the statutory threshold under Art. 29 O.G., considering the claim and counterclaim together.
Extrahierter Entscheid
Jurisdiction was lacking because the principal claim and the counterclaim each fell below the statutory threshold; they could not be aggregated for the amount-in-dispute calculation.
Extrahierte Begründung
The amount in controversy is determined from the parties' final prayers for relief, not from the monetary amounts discussed in the pleadings. The relevant amount is what remained disputed at the last cantonal decision. Principal and counterclaim are not to be added together, unless a prejudicial relationship exists extending jurisdiction to both claims; that was not the case here. Since neither side formally claimed CHF 3,000 or more, the statutory amount was not met.