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In our seminars we inform you about current topics and developments in business law. The seminars take place either at our offices or in-house at your premises.

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Business law is constantly changing. For your success, it is important that you react to legal developments in good time. We support you to do so. In “melchers law”, we report on current judgements and changes in the law and provide you with practical advice. To keep you up to date at all times.

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News

News from MELCHERS and current information

It is the people who form MELCHERS.

Whether intern, paralegal, associate or partner – together we are MELCHERS.

We experience success together, support a wide variety of initiatives and party together. Have a look for yourself…

Mannheim Women's Run: once again, the MELCHERS Women's Brunch team took part

The Mannheim Women’s Run celebrated a jubilee in 2023: the event took place for the 10th time. Of course, the MELCHERS Women’s Brunch team was at the start again. The female attorneys and junior lawyers from MELCHERS thus contributed to the record number of participants, 2,194 female runners. Not only the organisers were pleased with this large field of participants, but also the supported charity organisations, as a part of each entry fee went to selected social projects.
After the run, the traditional after-run party took place on the grounds of TSV Mannheim von 1846 e.V.. The award ceremony and live music attracted the participants towards the stage, catering stands provided a variety of food and the good atmosphere invited to socialise. The runners of the MELCHERS Women’s Brunch also enjoyed the evening with their colleagues long after the race itself. “Celebrating together is just as much a part of our group as overcoming difficulties together – today the last-minute extension of the running distance by 40%. It was a great event that further strengthened our sense of community,” commented Katharina Ebbecke on the successful event.

Novella of jurisdiction at Heilbronn Regional Court

Once again, sports betting operators were able to prevail before a regional court and successfully defend themselves against one of the so-called player claims that have become popular. According to the Heilbronn Regional Court, anyone who is not addicted to gambling or cannot credibly prove this is not covered by the protective purpose of the former internet bans on gambling in Germany and is therefore not entitled to repayment of betting losses.
Far from the substantive legal considerations underlining the submission of the defendant sports betting operators, the judgment of 23.06.2023 dismissing the action is particularly remarkable against the background of the previous case law of the deciding Regional Court. Whereas the judicial colleagues had previously always upheld lawsuits that landed in the Heilbronn judicial district, the ruling cited here represents a clear break with this case law and is consequently all the more gratifying. The differentiating approach recognises that the decision on the requirement of nullity of betting contracts “cannot be exchanged by judicial balancing or moral value judgements on the conduct of the contracting parties to the legal transaction” – “the yardstick [is] rather that the purpose of the law cannot be achieved in any other way than by the nullity of the prohibited legal transaction”.
The player claims mostly revolve around claims for restitution under enrichment law, by means of which the plaintiffs demand reimbursement of losses from participation in gambling on the internet. The lynchpin of the legal dispute is then the question of the validity of the underlying betting contracts. Did the offer of bets violate a legal prohibition? Does the violation of the legal prohibition lead to the overall invalidity of the betting contracts?
This was precisely not the case here. The prohibition laws at issue ( Section 4(4) IST2008 and Section 4(4) IST2012) were directed against only one of the two parties involved. If not all parties involved are addressees of the prohibition law, it does not follow from the unilateral violation of this law in general and thus contrary to the claims of the plaintiff that the betting contract is completely void. This is in line with the long-standing case law of the Federal Supreme Court. Only if, on top of that, the protective purpose of the Prohibition Act requires a nullity of the (betting) contract and a resulting reclaimability of the losses, the claims under the law on enrichment must be granted.
According to the legislative explanations of the State Gambling Treaties, the historically standardised Internet prohibitions were intended to protect health (specifically: to prevent gambling addiction) and, with regard to the experimental clause on Internet sports betting, to channel gambling operations to the legalised market. However, health protection and combating the black market do not include the protection of players’ assets. “This leaves the reduction of assets of every player who, after a free decision of will, also loses the bet due to the risk of loss inherent in gambling, out of the scope of protection of the norm. At most, financial losses suffered by a gambler due to his pathological gambling, which has not been proven in the present case, fall within its scope of protection.”
Moreover, regulatory sanction mechanisms already existed that would adequately punish any violations of the prohibitions. According to the intention of the law, there was no need to impose a civil fine on the operators, which could be enforced in court. The purpose of the bans could therefore have been achieved through public law, for example by applying the supervisory measures provided for in the State Gambling Treaties

MELCHERS successfully fights off player claims

It looked for a long time as if players of online gambling and betting, which was prohibited by the German Interstate Treaty on Gambling, would be able to successfully recover their losses in court. A veritable service provider market developed around the so-called player claims, promising fast-earned money. The operators faced a real flood of lawsuits.
However, in the meantime, the operator side has also been successful in court time and again. The experienced MELCHERS Litigation Team, led by Dr Arndt Riechers, succeeded in obtaining two important judgements:
In April 2023, the Regional Court of Hanover followed MELCHERS’ argumentation regarding the lack of a competent German court. This was the case when a claim for reimbursement was asserted by a claim purchaser domiciled in Switzerland against a gambling operator domiciled in Malta: According to Articles 17 and 18 of the EU Regulation on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, a consumer may also bring an action against a contracting party at the place where he has his domicile. However, this does not apply to actions brought by companies under ceded rights.
Nor did Article 7(1) of the Brussels Regulation confer international jurisdiction on the Regional Court of Hanover because of its place of performance in Malta. Finally, Article 7(2) of the Brussels Regulation did not confer jurisdiction in Germany either, as neither the place of action nor the place of performance of a possible offence was in Germany.
According to this groundbreaking ruling, purchasers of claims who have player claims ceded to them in exchange for payment of a part of the claim amount may find it difficult to enforce ceded claims before German courts in the future.
In another ruling, the Regional Court of Darmstadt decided on the significance of GTCs for determining the correct defendant. The plaintiff sued for reimbursement of losses suffered in an online casino that was offered without a licence. The online gambling took place via a website on which an online casino and online sports betting were to be found. In the GTCs, which the plaintiff had agreed to when registering, it was regulated that the casino contracts were concluded with company A and the betting contracts with company B. The plaintiff only played in the online casino, but sued company B (offering only betting contracts!). The court followed MELCHERS’ argumentation that it is not the joint website that matters, but the regulations in the GTC and therefore dismissed the action because it implicated the wrong defendant. What makes this decision significant is that, for the first time and quite rightly, it focuses on the GTC to determine which party should become the defendant.

Blog!

Blog

We would like to keep you informed about important legal developments and news from our law firm, irrespective of current mandates.

Here in the “News” section of our website you will find reports on current matters of the law firm, for example on MELCHERS’ participation in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, on our sponsoring activities or on publications by MELCHERS lawyers.

We regularly publish articles on current legal issues in our BLOG (in German). The spectrum ranges from changes in the law and important judgements to topics that we frequently encounter in our day-to-day consulting practice.

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melchers law

Current Edition

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Archive

Past editions

melchers law #77

melchers law #77

melchers law #78

melchers law #78

melchers law #79

melchers law #79

Melchers Law #76

Melchers Law #76

Melchers Law #75

Melchers Law #75

Melchers Law #74

Melchers Law #74

Melchers Law #73

Melchers Law #73

Melchers Law #72

Melchers Law #72

Melchers Law #71

Melchers Law #71

Melchers Law #70

Melchers Law #70

Melchers Law #69

Melchers Law #69

Melchers Law #68

Melchers Law #68

Melchers Law #67

Melchers Law #67

Melchers Law #66

Melchers Law #66

Melchers Law #65

Melchers Law #65

Melchers Law #64

Melchers Law #64

Melchers Law #63

Melchers Law #63

Melchers Law #62

Melchers Law #62

Melchers Law #61

Melchers Law #61

Melchers Law #60

Melchers Law #60

Melchers Law #59

Melchers Law #59

Melchers Law #58

Melchers Law #58

Melchers Law #57

Melchers Law #57

Melchers Law #56

Melchers Law #56

Melchers Law #55

Melchers Law #55

Melchers Law #54

Melchers Law #54

Melchers Law #53

Melchers Law #53

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News from MELCHERS and current information

Mannheim Women's Run: once again, the MELCHERS Women's Brunch team took part

Novella of jurisdiction at Heilbronn Regional Court

MELCHERS successfully fights off player claims

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