Represented Russian financial institution before the Supreme Court of Lithuania

Motieka & Audzevičius has successfully represented the biggest financial institution of the Russian Federation. The claimant had demanded more than 2.1 million EUR in damages allegedly caused by the actions that had been executed in the Russian Federation by one of the client’s employees.

After successfully representing the client in Vilnius regional court and the Court of Appeal of Lithuania, both of which found that they had no jurisdiction to hear this claim, the claimant submitted a cassation complaint, asking the Supreme Court of Lithuania to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeal of Lithuania and refer the case back to the Court of first instance for judgment on the merits.

The main issue raised in the cassation complaint was the application of an Agreement between the Republic of Lithuania and the Russian Federation on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases. Our team had once again successfully demonstrated on basis of both national and international law and case-law that Lithuanian courts had no right to hear the case.

The Supreme Court of Lithuania, upon examining our arguments, had confirmed the judgments by the courts of the first two instances. The case has set an important precedent as far as application of rules on jurisdiction of the Agreement on Legal Assistance are concerned. As a result, the client will not have to litigate the issue involving 2.1 million EUR outside of its home jurisdiction.