Borggraefe and Fuehr Succeed at German Federal Constitutional High Court
November 4, 2008
On November 4, 2008, The Federal Constitutional High Court, the highest Court in Germany, accepted the constitutional complaint raised by Joachim Borggraefe, Partner, and Heinz-Bodo Fuehr, Of Counsel, both of our Frankfurt office, regarding the constitutional right of our client to defend himself in court.
The suit began in 2005, when our client's employment contract as Managing Director of a state-owned company was terminated without sufficient notice. Mr. Borggraefe and Mr. Fuehr filed a suit against the employer at the Regional Court, arguing that the extraordinary termination of the employment contract had been unlawful, because the employer had not justified the termination to the client. The Regional Court dismissed the case, and in 2006 the Court of Appeal of the state of Rhino-Palatinate declined to open the appellate proceeding against this decision. The Court had decided that a hearing of the client could be seen as legally superfluous, and stressed that this legal question is undisputable and that its clarification has no principal importance.
The Federal Constitutional High Court accepted the arguments of Mr. Borggraefe and Mr. Fuehr, that the legal question does have significance for various similar cases, and that the decision of the Court of Appeal violates the constitutional right of the client to defend himself in court. Based on this decision, the Court of Appeal must reopen the appellate proceeding, and will discuss the facts and circumstances of the case in detail. More than 95 percent of all constitutional complaints in Germany are rejected by the High Court as ungrounded or due to formal reasons.
