Usancen Blog

DE: Temporary Weakness of Will May Result in Impropriety of Gifting

Civil Law 

The German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) held that an individual’s temporary condition of being easily influenced or having a weak will may well be of importance in the assessment of the propriety of a gift. The case at hand invol...

VwGH: Complaints But No Appeals for Chamber of Labour

Administrative Law 

The Austrian Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichthof, VwGH) has clarified that the Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer, AK) does have the right to file a complaint against decisions involving the revocation of business licenses for personnel leasin...

OGH Requests ECJ Interpretation of Consumer Rights Directive

Civil Law 

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has requested the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to rule on whether the automatic renewal of a distance contract should give rise to a new right of withdrawal. The starting point was a case pend...

Austrian Supreme Court: Right to Copy of Rulings for Interveners

Procedural Law 

If an intervener declares their intervention within the appeal deadline applicable to the main party, the intervener shall be entitled to the issuing of a copy of the ruling. Also, the intervening party shall be entitled to a separate deadline for ap...

Wave of complaints about Use of Google Fonts on Corporate Websites

Data Privacy Law 

Recently, numerous Austrian companies received a letter from a lawyer requesting them to accept a claim for damages and representation costs in the amount of EUR 190.00 based on their use of Google Fonts on their company website and to settle the cla...

DE: Are Airlines Liable for Partner Carrier Delays?

Civil Law 

According to the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH), if a trip consisting of several flights is booked with one airline, this trip is to be regarded as one single unit. If there is a delay, passengers can make a claim against th...

VwGH: EU Trade Mark Purchase as Concealed Distribution

Tax Law 

The Austrian Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, VwGH) has affirmed that the purchase of an EU trade mark is a covert distribution if the trade mark is identical to a company's previous name lettering. The appellant was a limited liability ...

OGH: Public Liability and Indirect Federal Administration

Civil Law 

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has determined that any wrongful conduct by members of provincial administrative courts (Landesverwaltungsgericht, LVwG) is to be attributed to the federal government under public liability law o...

GERMANY: Rent increase after renovation – Informations for renters

Civil Law 

The German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) recently had to rule on the formal criteria required in rent increase notices by landlords, following modernisation measures. Landlords must provide precise details of the costs required fo...

GERMANY: New German Corporate Governance Code

Civil Law 

The new German Corporate Governance Code (Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex, DCGK) 2022 came into force on 27 June 2022. In its current version, the code incorporates, among other things, the German Financial Market Integrity Strengthening Act (Ge...

Austrian Supreme Court: No Business License, No Competition

Labour Law 

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has ruled that a violation of Section 7 of the Salaried Employees Act (Angestelltengesetz, AngG) can occur even if an employer does not have a license for the business line in question. The plain...

Austrian Administrative Court: Special Tax Rate for Foreign Bank Derivatives

Tax Law 

The Austrian Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, VwGH) has ruled that income from non-securitised derivatives may be subject to a reduced tax rate even if they are handled through a foreign bank. The previous regulation was in violation of ...

DE: ECJ Decision – Do Late Flight Arrivals Constitute Cancellation?

European Law 

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) must currently decide by way of preliminary ruling to what extent compensation under the EU Passenger Rights Regulation requires a passenger’s appearance at check-in in cases where passengers know that...

OGH: Fictitious Managing Director's Salary as Compensation for Damages

Civil Law 

In case a contract-fulfilling party does not conclude a coverage agreement, only the abstract calculation of damages can be considered. A lease agreement for a hospitality business was concluded between the plaintiff (lessee) and the defendant (lesso...

OGH on the Exclusion of Compensation Waivers

Zivilrecht 

In the case at hand, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) dealt with the question of whether an insurance company's obtaining knowledge of a claim in a way other than through the policy holder precludes exemption from payment of com...

VwGH: Airbnb’s ‘Commercial Use’ As Defined by the Vienna Building Code

Administrative Law 

The Austrian Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, VwGH) has ruled that in determining commercial use for short-term accommodation purposes (e.g. on Booking.com and Airbnb) within the scope of Section 7a (3) of the Vienna Building Code, a con...

DE: Federal Court of Justice on VW Emissions Scandal Limitations

Civil Law 

Diesel plaintiffs can only hope to receive money in a time-barred claim for damages if their vehicle is a new VW. In the case of other makes with VW engines, there is no claim for so-called compensation for any residual damages, according to the Germ...

DE: Timing Is Critical in Dealing with Defects in the Purchase of Real Estate

Civil Law 

Should a purchaser be represented by an agent without power of attorney when concluding a contract for the purchase of real estate, the time at which the purchaser submits their authorisation is critical should the purchaser become aware of any defec...

OGH: Rent Surrender to Property Purchaser

Civil Law 

In the case at hand, the Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) dealt with the claim of a real estate buyer claiming the surrender of rent. The defendant was the owner of a plot of land for which a purchase offer was concluded with the plaintiff. ...

OGH on the Right of Recourse by a General Contractor

Civil Law 

In the case at hand, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) dealt with the question of a general contractor's recourse against his sub-subcontractor pursuant to Section 1313 second sentence of the Austrian Civil Code (Allgemeines Bürg...

Laesio enormis in the Case of a Purchased Object with Insidious Spreading Loss:

Civil Law 

In the case at hand, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) dealt with the question of whether, when assessing the disproportion between performance and counter-performance in the case of reduction of a sum by more than half (laesio e...

Consumer Protection Sec 3 Applies in Reverse Consumer Transactions

Civil Law 

Part I of the Austrian Consumer Protection Act (Konsumentenschutzgesetz, KSchG) not only applies to typical cases where a business is the provider of goods or services within the scope of a consumer transaction. The fact that a consumer holds the pos...

GERMANY: Burden of Proof in Travel Compensation

Civil Law 

The German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) ruled on the burden of proof by a tour operator with regards to claim for reasonable compensation in the case of cancella-tion of a trip by travellers before the beginning of a trip. Even if a...

GERMANY: BGH on the Scope of the Right to a Fair Hearing

Procedural Law 

According to the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH), the defendant's right to be heard is violated if the court of appeal awards the plaintiff more than they originally requested. It is true that in the case of a uniform matter in ...

Three Staples Create External Document Unity

Civil Law 

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has ruled that a testamentary disposition made in any form other than hand-written is valid if multiple sheets of paper are physically connected by three staples attached to the sides of the page...

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