In the law suits brought by financial investors against Porsche in conjunction with its attempt to take over Volkswagen, a first hearing took place at the Braunschweig District Court (Landgericht) today. Bloomberg Law was brave enough to cover the story yesterday, ahead of the hearing, and to make predictions, namely that it would be hard for the plaintiffs to convince to court – rightly pointing to the limitations on finding hard facts to support their case under German procedural rules, in the absence of discovery or disclosure.
And according to today’s report in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Bloomberg’s assessment was pretty much on target: The judge’s initial evaluation of the case before him was, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine, that plaintiffs’ arguments had no legal basis, neither in the German civil code nor in the securities laws. The facts pleaded by the plaintiffs were not sufficient to support a cause of action in tort (vorsätzliche sittenwidrige Schädigung).
The next hearing has been scheduled for September 19, 2012. Watch this space.
I am happy to find your news as I am willing to maintain myself updated to the decisions you make on Mediation and Arbitration. I used to live and work in Germany and am back to São Paulo, Brazil and with my partners, 3 lawyers one is a retired Judge, I develop courses on Mediation and ADR as well as projects on Mediation. Sorry I do not write in Germany L.