Does the state have to pay for financial damage caused by the corona protective measures? The Wrzburg Regional Court will have to decide on this Wednesday, March 10, when it hears the lawsuit of a bus operator from Zellingen (District Main-Spessart). The entrepreneur demands compensation in the mid six-digit range.
“If we hadn’t had good arguments, we wouldn’t have sued,” says lawyer Julian Pfeil from the Wrzburg law firm Steinbock & Partner. He and his law firm have meanwhile initiated similar actions for compensation to that of bus operator Stefan Lyding in around 100 cases across Germany. The clients are often disco operators, hoteliers or entrepreneurs from the event sector.
Pfeil and Lyding believe that the state interventions were illegal and disproportionate. Compensation is appropriate because the bus operator’s freedom of occupation has been restricted. He was hit hard last spring, says the Zellingen entrepreneur. It was only at the beginning of 2020 that he invested in new buses and signed an agreement with the company Viking Cruises, which organizes a number of river cruises on the Main and makes a stop in Wrzburg. “We would have made a lot of profit,” says Lyding, “now we’re making a lot of losses instead.”
The compensation he received as a bus operator was nowhere near enough. His buses have been unused on the company premises for months, and they would cost him 180,000 euros a month, says Lyding. He had to send all of his employees on short-time work, this was the only way to avoid layoffs.
The Zellinger says he might even have to pay back the 30,000 euros in emergency aid that he received at the beginning of the crisis. Because almost a third of the “Lyst” vehicles are also used in regular service. And by the end of the year, Lyding wants to increase this share to 70 percent.
Entrepreneur: Help too late and too little
If the court does not recognize the argument of illegality this week, Lyding and his lawyer want to assert claims under state liability law. Because, they argue, similar to an expropriation in which the state can access private property for the benefit of the citizens, the bus company had to limit itself for the benefit of the citizens. Lyding had to risk the previously calculated professional existence to ensure the health of the population. Ultimately, he claims that he is only demanding compensation for the damage that he has suffered through forced sacrifices.
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“There was already aid from the state, but far too late and far too little,” says Lyding, who has been running his company for over 30 years. Starting with a bus, the Zellinger company now has 21 coaches and 20 public transport buses in service.
Member of the Bundestag Hoffmann sees little chance
Lyding had also made contact with Alexander Hoffmann, CSU member of the Bundestag from Main-Spessart. The lawyer from Zellingen, who is also a member of the Bundestag legal committee, sees the chances of success in court as rather low: “The legality of the lockdown has already been clarified in court. There is no other effective means.”
Hoffmann points out that Lyding would have broken away a large part of his business model even without a lockdown in Germany, after all, travel was restricted worldwide as a result of the pandemic. However, he can imagine that the bus operator will receive at least a small amount of compensation. In order to prevent such legal proceedings, the state has developed aid programs.
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