Debarment from Defending, Default Judgments and Public Policy in Europe

Abstract

This is a case note on the Gambazzi decision of the European Court of Justice.

Marco Gambazzi was excluded from English proceedings for non complying with interim measures. As a consequence, he was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of Euros without trial. This note discusses the two issues addressed by the Advocate General and the Court. The first is whether such "default" English judgments are to be characterized as such in the meaning of the European law of judgments and thus benefit from the Brussels Convention (as it was then). The second is whether such judgments are contrary to public policy for being the consequence of a debarment from defending and an exclusion of proceedings.

Keywords: Foreign judgments, Public policy, Human rights, Brussels I Regulation