Berlin It was the highest compensation in German legal history to date: shortly before his death, former Chancellor Helmut Kohl obtained monetary compensation for a particularly serious violation of general personal rights amounting to one million euros. That was in 2017. And the case is still preoccupying the judiciary – this Monday the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe.
The oral hearing was about the question of whether the sum should be paid to the Kohl widow. The reason for the compensation was the publication of the book “Legacy: The Kohl Protocols”.
The book was published by the authors Heribert Schwan and Tilman Jens in 2014. Jens passed away last year. The demands of Kohl’s widow Maike Kohl-Richter therefore now focus, among other things, on ghostwriter Schwan, once confidante of the former chancellor. Neither Kohl-Richter nor Schwan appeared in person in court on Monday.
Schwan conducted interviews with Kohl for over 600 hours and recorded them on tape. This resulted in three volumes of books. Then there was a break between Schwan and the former chancellor. The “Kohl Protocols” then appeared without his vote. They contained controversial remarks from Kohl. There were several legal disputes over this.
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In the BGH hearing on this Monday in Karlsruhe, it was not only about the monetary compensation, but also about the distribution of more than 100 passages from the bestseller (Az. VI ZR 248/18 and VI ZR 258/18).
Peter-Alexander judgment provides information
Schwan’s legal representative Martin Soppe from the law firm Osborne Clarke was confident after the hearing. “We got the impression that the BGH will stick to its line that the claim to monetary compensation, even if it were confirmed, is not inheritable,” Soppe told the Handelsblatt. From his point of view, the other side did not provide any arguments that could induce the court to rethink.
The BHG has already given important information with the so-called Peter Alexander judgment of 2014. At that time, the judges determined that the son of the singer and entertainer, who died in 2011, cannot sue the rainbow press for his dead father. Accordingly, claims from personal rights do not apply beyond death and can therefore not be inherited. Inevitably, it was only possible to provide the injured party with satisfaction while he was still alive.
In the Alexander case, however, there was still no verdict. The lawsuit had only been launched a day before the entertainer’s death.
As the sole heir, Maike Kohl-Richter, like her late husband, is demanding at least five million euros plus interest. While he was still alive, the Cologne Regional Court awarded Kohl compensation of one million euros. The money was not paid out, however, because the book authors Schwan and Jens and the co-defendant publisher Random House appealed at the time.
The widow of former Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl is demanding at least five million euros plus interest from Kohl’s ghostwriter and former confidante Heribert Schwan, among others.
(Photo: dpa)
The higher regional court (OLG) Cologne then decided in May 2018 that Maike Kohl-Richter was not entitled to the record compensation won by the former chancellor. The claim is not inheritable. It is a matter of providing satisfaction to the injured party, and that is only possible while he is still alive. So the case ended up before the BGH.
Media lawyer Roger Mann, who represents the Penguin Random House publishing group, was very optimistic after the negotiations. “With a view to the monetary compensation, the BGH should stick to its previous case law that the claims are not inheritable,” said Mann the Handelsblatt. In addition, the Senate made it clear that the accounting offices that had previously been complained of would have to be checked again in detail by a court.
The responsible senate had taken another very close look at the quotes from the book, explained Schwan’s legal representative Soppe: “The issue here was whether the quotes actually violated Kohl’s personal rights.” The judges had made it clear that this should be weighed up with each individual quote may be. The case could also go back to the OLG Cologne.
However, the BGH does not want to announce its judgment until later.
Maike Kohl-Richter could go to the Federal Constitutional Court
Matthias Siegmann, Maike Kohl-Richter’s legal representative, saw the Senate as having “perseverance” with regard to the existing case law. “However, I have stated that the claim for compensation – assuming the case law of the Senate is correct – disappeared with the death of the former Federal Chancellor while the defendant was in default,” Siegmann told the Handelsblatt after the hearing. “The defendants postponed the fulfillment after the first judgment of the regional court, were therefore in default and therefore have to pay compensation as damage caused by default from this legal point of view.” The court had to appreciate this aspect.
Siegmann does not rule out that Maike Kohl-Richter will take this matter to the Federal Constitutional Court.
It was not the first time that the Federal Court of Justice had to deal with the Kohl case. A good year ago the judges decided that the author Schwan had to give the Kohl widow information about what still existed on tape or typed out of the conversations with the former chancellor. However, the Kohl page can no longer access documents from the Chancellery that Schwan may have in his possession (Az. III ZR 136/18).
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