Finally, there is a German postal stamp to honour Fritz Bauer, the Hessian attorney general (Generalstaatsanwalt) and the public prosecutor behind the first Auschwitz trials in Germany and the Eichman trail in Israel. Continue reading
This week, yet another Brexit deadline expired without additional clarity as to when and on what terms Brexit will occur. This creates uncertainties, which affect business relations with British parties, and impact, amongst many other fields, civil litigation. So in this week’s Case of the Week, we present the three cases I know of in which German courts had to decide on Brexit-related issues. The cases deal with security for costs, the validity of choice of court agreements and with freezing orders in a Brexit context. Continue reading
In a judgment last week, the Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) has found a US party liable for damages for bringing an action against its German contractual counterparty in the US in violation of an agreement on the jurisdiction of the German courts. With this judgment, the Federal Supreme Court decided an issue that so far had been controversially debated in the German legal literature. Until this decision, it was not clear whether the violation of a choice of court agreement does not only have a procedural effect, but does also render the violating party liable for monetary damages. (Disclosure: This post is based on the Federal Supreme Court’s press release only, as the full judgment is not yet available. I will provide an update when the judgment comes out.) Continue reading
Donata von Enzberg and I have authored the German chapter in the ICLG International Arbitration 2019. The guide covers common issues in international arbitration laws and regulations – including arbitration agreements, governing legislation, choice of law rules, selection of arbitral tribunal, preliminary relief and interim measures – in 52 jurisdictions,
We still have some hard copies to give away – if you are interested, let me know and we will ship a copy to you, while stocks last. Continue reading