Areas of practice

Social security law

The law governing statutory cover in Germany: sickness, long-term care, reduced earning capacity, old age and unemployment. Disputes almost always arise at the same point – an application is refused, or a benefit already granted is reduced or withdrawn.

• The health fund refuses to cover a treatment, an aid or a rehabilitation measure.
• A reduced-earning-capacity pension is refused or granted only for a limited period.
• The care level (Pflegegrad) is set too low or reduced after reassessment.
• Sickness benefit ends because the fund no longer accepts incapacity for work.
• The employment agency or the job centre reduces or refuses benefits.
• The degree of disability (Grad der Behinderung) is set too low.

Deadlines: objection within one month of notification (section 84 SGG); court action within one month of the objection decision (section 87 SGG). Court fees: proceedings before the social courts are free of court fees for insured persons and benefit recipients (section 183 SGG).

Insurance law

You have paid premiums for years, and when the insured event occurs the claim is refused. Refusals typically rest on one of three arguments: the medical requirements are said not to be met, an exclusion is said to apply, or information given when the contract was concluded is said to have been incorrect. All three are open to challenge once examined in detail.

• Private health insurance: reimbursement reduced or refused, treatment said not to be medically necessary, disputes over premium increases.
• Occupational disability insurance: the degree of disability is disputed, you are referred to an alternative occupation, or the insurer relies on a pre-contractual disclosure failure.
• Accident insurance: disputes over the degree of invalidity, the scale of benefits, contributory pre-existing conditions and the strict notification periods.
• Legal expenses insurance: cover refused for lack of prospects of success, or disputes over when the insured event arose.

Medical negligence

Not every poor outcome is a mistake. Medicine works with risk, and an unwanted result on its own does not create liability. A claim arises where treatment fell below the professional standard – or where you were not informed well enough before the procedure to give valid consent. The second point is regularly underestimated: without proper information, the procedure was not lawfully covered even if it was carried out flawlessly.

Patients have a right of access to their complete medical records (section 630g BGB). Where a gross treatment error is established, the burden of proof as to causation is reversed (section 630h BGB). Members of a statutory health fund may ask the fund for support in pursuing such claims (section 66 SGB V), which in practice often means a free expert opinion.

Road traffic accidents

This is the civil side: who compensates which loss. The other driver’s liability insurer represents their interests, not yours. It assesses the split of liability, reduces individual heads of loss and instructs its own assessors.

As the injured party in an accident you did not cause, you may choose your own assessor and your own repair shop. Recoverable heads of loss include repair costs, diminished value, loss of use or a hire car, assessor’s fees, towing, and – where you were injured – compensation for pain and suffering and loss of earnings. Where the accident was not your fault, the necessary legal fees generally form part of the recoverable loss.

Traffic offences and motoring criminal law

This concerns the accusation by the state rather than money between private parties: a fine notice, a driving ban, points on the register, withdrawal of the driving licence, or an entry in the certificate of conduct. It runs in a separate procedure from the civil claim, with different deadlines – and what you say in one can be used in the other.

The first step is almost always the same: object and obtain access to the file. The objection preserves the deadline and can be withdrawn at any time, so it commits you to nothing. Without the file – calibration certificate, operator training records, measurement log, device manual and the raw measurement data – it is impossible to say whether the measurement stands up.

Deadlines: two weeks from service, both for a fine notice (section 67 OWiG) and for a penalty order (section 410 StPO).

Corporate and contract law

A shareholders’ agreement is usually concluded when everyone still agrees. It is needed when they no longer do. I advise on the formation, restructuring and dissolution of German corporations and partnerships, on the duties of managing directors and shareholders, and on drafting, reviewing and enforcing contracts.

Frequently asked questions