advokatfirma | meyer

German courts - proceedings

Everyone litigating in Germany can rely on the independence of German courts. Corruption within the judicial authorities is not an issue in Germany.

As is the case with substantive law, German procedural law is also systematically and clearly structured in the form of codes. The Code of Civil Procedure (Zivilprozessordnung, abbreviated as ZPO) governs civil proceedings and therefore provides the foundation for the work of both judges and lawyers.

A further factor contributing to the predictability of German civil suits is German liability law. As opposed to US courts, German courts do not award extremely high damages. Similarly, the concept of punitive damages is alien to German law, which instead strives to compensate for any actual damage incurred.

In the German civil trial system the judge actively steers the proceedings. This facilitates the efficient conduct of the proceedings, while maintaining a focus on decisive issues.

The court is responsible for the structure and organisation of the proceedings, including the service of the statement of claim, written pleadings and court decisions. The court also summons ordinary witnesses as well as expert witnesses. If and when required, the court can enforce the attendance of witnesses by subpoena. Compared to other jurisdictions where counsels of the parties are reqired to perform all of these costly and timeconsuming organisational tasks, the German approach significantly accelerates court proceedings.

Moreover, the courts also actively manage and structure the proceedings during the actual hearings. As early as at the first hearing, the matter at hand is discussed with the parties and their lawyers, with the judge providing guidance as to the issues that he or she considers relevant.

The Code of Civil Procedure requires German judges to always aim for an amicable reolution of a dispute at any stage of the proceedings. Therefore, elements of mediation and conciliation form an integral part of German civil proceedings. In suitable cases, the court will propose that the parties enter into out-of-court mediation. Moreover, many judges and lawyers have undergone additional training to become qualified mediators.

Situations may arise where quick action by the courts is of paramount importance to protect your financial or commercial interests.

In these cases, injunctive relief provides focused and effective help. In the majority of cases, the court will decide whether the requested relief is granted the same day that the application for injunctive relief is received, or, at the latest, a few days thereafter. The decision is then served and enforced without delay. Particularly where breaches of competition law or patent infringements are concerned, the courts respond very quickly – a decisive advantage that other jurisdictions only offer to a very limited extent, if at all.

Situations may arise where quick action by the courts is of paramount importance to protect your financial or commercial interests. In these cases, injunctive relief provides focused and effective help. In the majority of cases, the court will decide whether the requested relief is granted the same day that the application for injunctive relief is received, or, at the latest, a few days thereafter. The decision is then served and enforced without delay. Particularly where breaches of competition law or patent infringements are concerned, the courts respond very quickly.

Final judgments that can no longer be appealed are enforceable. However, the courts usually declare judgments to be provisionally enforceable, even when they have not yet become non-appealable. The prerequisite for this provisional enforceability is that the prevailing party furnishes a bank guarantee in order to safeguard the losing party´s position. Such a bank guarantee is not required in proceedings for injunctive relief and summary proceedings.

Lawyer Hans-Oluf Meyer

Hans-Oluf Meyer (1969) is both Danish and German lawyer. He provides advice predominantly in German/Danish legal matters in areas of international contract law, international private law and litigation. In Danish law he basically focuses on contract law, company/commercial law and the tort law.

advokatfirma | meyer
Kurfürstendamm 57
D 10707 Berlin

Tel +49 (0)30 31 51 89 69 0
Fax +49 (0)30 31 51 89 69 9

E-Mail: contact@advokatfirma.de

advokatfirma | meyer
is Team Rynkeby Sponsor

NEWS

30.01.2024
Als Spezialisten für die Vollstreckung von Titeln (z. B. Gerichtsentscheidungen) auch in Dänemark verfassten die Rechtsanwälte Meyer und Ellendt für das Berliner Anwaltsblatt einen kurzen Autorenbeitrag hierüber. Dieser erschien im Berliner Anwaltsblatt im Heft 10/2023, 72. Jahrgang. Den Text können Sie hier lesen.

20.04.2022
Lawyer Hans-Oluf Meyer takes over the authorship for the thesis on the legal situation in Denmark in case of traffic accidents for the Deubner-Verlag as part of the work „Verkehrssachen – Mandate zügig und erfolgreich bearbeiten“ (Stand Februar 2022).

10.03.2022
advokatfirma | meyer støtter Team Rynkeby som guldsponsor

Team Rynkeby is well known in Denmark, but since its foundation twenty years ago it has become a European project where charity cycling teams from several cities in Europe cycle from their home destination to Paris in the same week to watch the end of the Tour de France. The aim is to raise money for children’s cancer funds in each country. Today, the German juice group Eckes-Granini with its three brands Rynkeby, Go Morgen and hohes C is behind the project. Today, Team Rynkeby consists of 2,400 exercise cyclists and 550 volunteers in 59 local teams from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Germany and Switzerland. In July 2022, for the first time, a team of 30 cyclists, including lawyer Hans-Oluf Meyer, will cycle about 1,200 km from Berlin to Paris within a week to meet the other teams. 2022 will be a special year for the Danish participants, since the Tour de France starts in Denmark. In 2020, Team Rynkeby could give € 8.79 million to organisations helping children with critical illnesses. Of this, € 152,749 went to the German Children’s Cancer Foundation. Since 2002, the cycling teams have cycled and raised more than € 75 million.

01.10.2021
September 9th lawyer Hans-Oluf Meyer in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Trade Council and the Trade Department at the Danish Embassy in Berlin participated in a Masterclass Workshop at Food Nation at Axelborg in Copenhagen with a presentation on the legal challenges of export and establishment in Germany. Participants were Danish companies that market their food products in Germany and that want to increase their activities in the German market.

26.03.2021
advokatfirma | meyer and Novasol tenants are confirmed by the Danish consumer ombudsman in Corona cases: Novasol cannot retroactively change terms of business. The newspaper The Nordschleswiger reports:
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29.10.2020
“If force majeure applies to Novasol, this must also apply to the consumer.” Attorney Meyer has complained about Novasol’s unilateral change of business terms in the midst of the pandemic. The newspaper Lübecker Nachrichten reports:
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31.08.2020
advokatfirma | meyer wins in third instance a decisive process for German road accident victims at the Danish Supreme Court, Højesteret. The case concerned the fundamental question of which law is applicable if a German car causes an accident on a business trip in Denmark and the employees want to bring claims against their employer.

15.08.2020
Dänische Ferienhausvermittlungen und die Covid-19-Pandemielage
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30.07.2020
Artikel in “Der Nordschleswiger”: Enttäuschte Mieter gehen gegen Ferienhausanbieter vor
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06.04.2020
Ausgewählte Informationen zu aktuellen Entwicklungen im Recht der Kurzarbeit, im Arbeitsrecht, im Insolvenzrecht, im Mietrecht und im Zivilrecht zu Zeiten der Sars-Cov-2-Pandemie
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ABOUT US

The Danish founder and partner of the lawfirm Hans-Oluf Meyer has successfully transferred the Scandinavian way of team-work into our German law firm and we are therefore very glad to present a high standard concerning both our reachability towards our clients as well as our legal advice, as our cases are regularly surveyed by more than one lawyer.

TVS – Newscast:
15. juli 2012 19.30

Following the main news on July 15, 2012, Danish television showed a report with and about attorney Hans-Oluf Meyer and his law firm in Berlin (the program is in Danish):