KPMG Law successfully advises Volkswagen Bank against model declaratory judgment action

KPMG Law Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH and others successfully advised Volkswagen Bank GmbH in its defense against the model declaratory action filed by Schutzgemeinschaft für Bankkunden e.V..

The proceedings concerned revocation issues in motor vehicle financing. The Schutzgemeinschaft für Bankkunden e.V. (SfB) had filed a model declaratory judgment action against Volkswagen Bank (Case No. XI ZB 1/19). The subject of the model declaratory judgment action is the question of whether the revocation period in consumer contracts for the financing of motor vehicle purchase agreements does not begin to run due to formal errors and therefore the revocation period has not expired, also known as the revocation joker. The SfB had filed a similar model declaratory action in parallel against Mercedes Benz Bank AG, Az. XI ZR 171/19.

The SfB’s model declaratory action against Volkswagen Bank was dismissed because the SfB was not authorized to initiate a model declaratory action. This action had not been made public. The Higher Regional Court of Braunschweig had doubts about the SfB’s legal standing and therefore refrained from issuing a notice.

The SfB filed an appeal against this with the BGH. In the written appeal proceedings, the BGH now rejected the appeal. The BGH concurred with the opinion of the Higher Regional Court of Braunschweig, according to which the SfB does not have standing to bring an action for a model declaratory judgment.

Representative Volkswagen Bank GmbH

KPMG Law Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH: Dr. Christian Nordholtz, Partner, Legal Deal Advisory, Hanover

Inhouse Legal, Volkswagen Bank GmbH: Dr. Christoph Renger, Dr. Michael Knoll, Braunschweig

Representative BGH

Rohnke Winter: Dr. Thomas Winter, Partner, Karlsruhe

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