OWB’s insolvency is still ongoing.
© Christian Beier
Ohligser Housing Cooperative will continue to be wound up.
From Philipp Müller
Solingen. In the middle of 2010, the Ohligser Housing Cooperative (OWB) had to file for bankruptcy. The law firm Görg from Wuppertal stepped in, Dr. Jörg Bornheimer was appointed preliminary insolvency administrator. According to the Regional Court of Wuppertal, he had charged a little more than 900,000 euros too much in fees for this. That is what Detlef Wagner announced. The Solingen lawyer represents the Stadt-Sparkasse Solingen, which is the creditor in the proceedings. This is also the city of Solingen, which joined Wagner’s argument in the process.
It’s about the first 12-14 weeks of the procedure. If the bankruptcy is still provisional, the administrator appointed by the local court will examine the financial circumstances. And in the case of the OWB cooperative, they were precarious. At the end of the 1990s, the company grew by purchasing several hundred apartments in the city. A network of guarantees for financing by the Sparkasse was created. The managing director at the time, Wolfgang Schürmann, entered into further projects that ultimately cost the cooperative money. Schürmann and OWB ended up in court several times because of dismissal suits and claims for continued wages. The negative high point for 1356 OWB shareholders was that they each had to pour 1200 euros into the pot of the ailing cooperative.
To see what is still in the OWB till, Dr. Bornheimer’s fee of 1,178,000 million euros was granted to him by the Solingen District Court. The sticking point before the regional court was the following legal question: Was it possible for the law firm Görg to set the value of the OWB properties as if they were not on loan? According to lawyer Wagner, the court denied this. Verdict: A fee of 263,000 euros is in order, 915,000 euros remain in the bankruptcy estate of the ongoing proceedings.
By the way: Bornheimer has not yet received a fee. “He did a great job,” lawyer Wagner praised his colleague. But asking 1800 percent more than the fee rate as a fee is not possible. The Federal Court of Justice could decide whether Wagner and the regional court assess this correctly.
According to Wagner, the ex-comrades don’t need to hope that their 1.6 million euros will be repaid. “Many other requirements are met beforehand.”
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