Noerr represents Berliner Sparkasse before Berlin Higher Regional Court in model declaratory action filed by Federation of German Consumer Organisations

A Noerr team led by Hans Christian Kirchner, Tom Billing and Tobias Lühmann is representing the bank Berliner Sparkasse, Niederlassung der Landesbank Berlin AG, before the Berlin Higher Regional Court in its defence against a model declaratory action brought by the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V., VZBV.)

With the model declaratory action, VZBV is seeking a declaratory judgment that consumers had to pay fees without a legal basis. Berliner Sparkasse had based its increase in fees on a clause customary in banking, which the German Federal Court of Justice deemed invalid in a judgment handed down on 27 April 2021 (Case XI ZR 26/20).

The case, together with a comparable model declaratory action currently pending against the bank Sparkasse Köln-Bonn before the Higher Regional Court of Hamm, has model character for numerous credit institutions throughout Germany and is being conducted in close coordination with the German Savings Banks Association (Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband, DSGV) and with the involvement of the German Banking Industry Committee (Die Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft, DK).

Advisors to Berliner Sparkasse, Niederlassung der Landesbank Berlin AG: Noerr Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB

Banking & Finance
Tom Billing (partner, Berlin)

Class & Mass Action Defense
Hans Christian Kirchner (partner), Tobias Lühmann (associated partner, Berlin)