Good advice

Customers of the insolvent energy supplier BEV are still entitled to the promised new customer bonus. This was decided by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) (IX ZR 267/20). In this case, the insolvency administrator no longer wanted to grant the new customer bonus in full after the company filed for insolvency in 2019. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) filed a model declaratory action against this...

A review mechanism for foreign investments that prohibits the acquisition of regional companies classified as strategic by foreign groups is not compatible with European Union law. The European Court of Justice recently came to this conclusion (ECJ, C-106/22). In the case at hand, the Hungarian concrete element manufacturer Xella...

The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main (OLG) recently ruled that restaurant owners cannot be held responsible for recognizable unevenness on their patio areas. In the case in question, a guest tripped on a natural stone terrace after leaving the toilet and injured himself. He sued for damages and compensation for pain and suffering. However, the...

The Frankfurt am Main Higher Regional Court (OLG) recently ordered the city to pay damages of 6,500 euros for neglecting to maintain and inspect a street tree (case reference: 1 U 310/20). In this case, a broken branch had caused total damage to a Fiat 500 in a residential area. The OLG ruled that the city was liable for the damage due to inadequate inspection.

Noise caused by dogs in a dog playground in a residential area is reasonable as long as it does not exceed the applicable immission guide values. This was decided by the Berlin Administrative Court (VG 24 K 148.19). A resident had complained about noise pollution and the alleged use of the dog playground outside of the specified opening hours, which was operated by the Lichtenberg district office in...

The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has declared the resident parking fee statutes of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau invalid (case no.: BVerwG 9 CN 2.22). The ruling concerns the statute that came into force on December 14, 2021, which introduced a gradual parking fee structure based on vehicle length. Discounts for certain groups of people were also provided for. However, the BVerwG found that...

The Berlin Administrative Court has ruled that a furniture retailer in Germany that operates exclusively online may not employ its customer service staff on Sundays and public holidays (AZ: VG 4 K 311/22). The retailer currently provides its customer service on Sundays and public holidays mainly via call centers in Poland and Ireland. His application for permission to work on Sundays for...

If a property belongs to a third party and is used to promote the unconstitutional activities of an association, it can only be seized and confiscated if it can be proven that the third party acted with intent. In particular, the third party must have the intention of supporting the association's prohibited activities by transferring its property to the association. This was recently decided by the...

The Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) has clarified that the tax relief under Section 35a of the Income Tax Act does not apply to a home emergency call system without direct emergency assistance (case reference: VI R7/21). The case in question involved a home emergency call system that only provides a 24-hour connection to a service center. The plaintiff had installed a corresponding home emergency call system in her home....

An "outer area island", which is part of the settlement area, may be included in an inner development plan in accordance with Section 13a BauGB. This applies to undeveloped open spaces within a local area that were previously used as green spaces. This was decided by the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG) (AZ: BVerwG 4 CN 5.21). In the present case, the applicant was the owner of...