How to litigate a personal injury claim under German civil law

The general legal requirements to successfully sue someone in Germany based on tort are set out in title 27 of the German Civil Code, sections 823 et seqq. But don’t get your hopes up too high! In comparison to the USA and Britain, German courts usually award significantly less money when it comes to damage claims. The amount of compensation for pain and suffering (Schmerzensgeld) which is granted by German civil courts in personal injury cases is ridiculously low in the eyes of a U.S. litigation lawyer. A severed thumb, for example, „gets you“ roughly $5,000 to $10,000.

The concept of punitive or exemplary damages is entirely unknown in Germany. Class actions, which U.S. lawyers take for granted to be available in cases like the German diesel scandal, are also not available under the German civil procedure rules. And don’t let anyone tell you something else: The new German litigation tool „Musterfeststellungsklage„, which was introduced in 2018 and which is sometimes — misleadingly — referred to as „German class action“ (Sammelklage), is something entirely different and must not be confused with a U.S. style class action. The German Musterfeststellungsklage is only available in very limited circumstances and the plaintiff can only be a consumer protection organisation (Verbraucherschutzorganisation). And even if the consumer protection organisation is successful with the Musterfeststellungsklage, each individual claimant must still go to court to have the concrete damages of their individual cases assessed by the local court. The Musterfeststellungsklage ist only the first step, the actual value of the claim is determined in a second, ancillary law suit. All this makes the German „class action“ a rather frustrating instrument.

Back to normal tort cases in German civil courts: We have explained some specific aspects of German personal injury and tort claims on our civil law blog Cross Channel Lawyers (enter „tort“). This current post now demonstrates the general legal test (Prüfungsschema) which a German litigation lawyer or a German judge uses to assess the merits of a tort case. mehr lesen…