Judgment_paragraph 20 · Livio Missir Mamachi di Lusignano v European Commission (C-417/14 RX)

20Concerning the possibility of the heirs and successors of the deceased official bringing an action on the basis of Article 270 TFEU and Articles 90 and 91 of the Staff Regulations, the General Court stated the following at paragraphs 61 to 65 of the judgment in Missir Mamachi di Lusignano v Commission (T‑401/11 P, EU:T:2014:625):61 It is true that the possibility, indeed the obligation, for those entitled to claim under a deceased official to bring an action on the basis of Article 270 TFEU and Articles 90 and 91 of the Staff Regulations in order to receive the benefits provided for in Article 73(2)(a) of the Staff Regulations has already been recognised, at least implicitly, by the Courts of the European Union ([judgments in Bitha v Commission, T‑23/95, EU:T:1996:3]; [Klein v Commission, F‑32/08, EU:F:2009:3]; see also, to that effect and by analogy, order in [Hotzel-Wagenknecht v Commission, T‑145/00, EU:T:2001:164], paragraph 17).62 However, first, that argument applies only for the persons entitled to claim specifically listed in Article 73(2)(a) of the Staff Regulations, namely the spouse and children or, where there are no such persons, the other descendants or, where there are no such persons, the relatives in the ascending line or, last, where there are no such persons, the institution itself. Thus, in the present case, even on the assumption that the Commission’s argument did apply in the case of the four children of [the deceased official], it does not apply in the case of the [appellant], Livio Missir Mamachi di Lusignano himself, who does not have the capacity of a person entitled to claim, within the meaning of Article 73(2)(a) of the Staff Regulations, when there are children. Nor does it apply in the case of [the deceased official’s] mother, brother and sister, who are applicants in the parallel Case T‑494/11.63 Second, that argument is tantamount to making the procedural implementation of the general law on the non-contractual liability of the Union subject to the procedural implementation of the specific law on social security of officials as provided for in the Staff Regulations. In fact, there is no valid reason why the special jurisdiction of the Civil Service Tribunal vis-à-vis officials should also prevail over the general jurisdiction of this Court to hear and determine any dispute involving the liability of the Union.64 Third, and last, even in the case of [the deceased official’s] four children, what is at issue in the present case is not the Commission’s obligation to pay the benefits guaranteed in the Staff Regulations, which, moreover, have already been paid to those concerned, but its possible obligation to make full reparation for the alleged material and non-material damage. The Court observes, in that regard, that the [appellant] specifically maintains, in the context of the third plea in law, that the Civil Service Tribunal erred in law in taking into consideration, for the purpose of making good that damage, the benefits conferred on [the deceased official’s] children under the Staff Regulations. In those circumstances, it does not appear possible to base a rule of jurisdiction of the Civil Service Tribunal on Article 73(2)(a) of the Staff Regulations, when it is specifically claimed that that article does not constitute the basis of the action brought on behalf of [the deceased official’s] four children.65 It follows from all of the foregoing considerations that, in circumstances such as those of the present case, the legal framework defined by Articles 268 TFEU and 270 TFEU, Article 1 of Annex I to the Statute of the Court of Justice and Articles 90 and 91 of the Staff Regulations, leads of itself to the inevitable conclusion that the close relatives of a deceased official are necessarily required to bring two actions, one before the Civil Service Tribunal and the other before this Court, depending on whether they have succeeded to the rights of the official in question or whether they claim reparation for material or non-material damage that is personal to them.’