Question juridique clé
Whether the Brussels judgment on Sabena's damages claim falls within the Lugano Convention
Solution extraite
No. Because the claim was pursued after opening of the Swiss insolvency proceedings and functionally served only to participate in the Swiss collective liquidation, it was an insolvency-related proceeding excluded by Art. 1(2)(b) Lugano.
Motifs extraits
The court stressed the close functional link between the Belgian action and the Swiss liquidation: the judgment was intended solely to establish the civil basis for collocation in the Swiss estate proceedings, so the dispute belonged to the insolvency sphere rather than ordinary civil litigation.