February 01, 2023 /
The insolvency proceedings in the Schlecker case are entering a new round following a ruling by the Cartel Senate of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe. The insolvency administrator’s claim for 212 million euros in damages must be re-examined, as the rulings of the previous instance had prematurely dismissed it.
Founded in 1975 by Anton Schlecker, the company developed into one of the most renowned drugstore chains in Germany by 2012. In March 2012, an application for insolvency was filed with Ulm Local Court. In the course of the insolvency proceedings, the insolvency administrator Arndt Geiwitz demanded a total of 212 million euros from several large drugstore manufacturers. After the Federal Cartel Office had already imposed fines for illegal cartel agreements in 2013, Geiwitz argued that the “Body Care, Detergents and Cleaning Agents” working group had inflated prices and thus caused damages of at least 212 million euros.
After the Frankfurt Regional Court initially ruled that the presiding judges had not been able to establish any damage caused by the cartel agreements that had already been proven, the Higher Regional Court initially confirmed the previous ruling in 2020. Schlecker had insufficiently proven that the agreements had caused damage.
The BGH disagreed and referred the Schlecker case back to the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt. The lower courts had not sufficiently examined the extent to which the price agreements had caused damage due to excessive prices. According to the ruling, it is common experience that unjustifiably high prices result from agreements between suppliers in so-called “working groups”.
Sources:
Schlecker: million-euro lawsuit to be re-examined (swr.de; last accessed on 30/01/2023)
Lawsuit by Schlecker insolvency administrator to be re-examined (zeit.de; last accessed on 29/01/2023)
On damages from Anton Schlecker e. K. i. L. due to the drugstore cartel (juris.bundesgerichtshof.de; last accessed on 27.01.2023)
Cartelists may have to pay damages for Schlecker bankruptcy after all (rsw.beck.de; last accessed on 28.01.2023)
Image source: AdobeStock 290833473 by Björn Wylezich