法律研究

Personal Liability

The Supreme Court for Civil Matters recently stated his case law on the liability of managing directors of a GmbH more precisely: The managing director of a GmbH shall only be liable where the law specifically stipulates such liability and if he personally acted culpably and unlawfully. This restriction of liability shall also apply to damages caused by oral agreements and by acts or omissions of assisting persons. For such cases the GmbH itself is liable for the caused damage. (8Ob62/16z)

2016年9月16日

De-merger is not a good reason to terminate

In a recent case, the Supreme Court for Civil Matters had to interpret the Austrian Demerger Act in accordance with a European Directive. The Supreme Court for Civil Matters ruled that the issuer of a bond shall not terminate a legal relationship which is otherwise valid for an indefinite period of time with investors in these bonds. A termination for cause is only available to the issuer, if maintaining the legal relationship is not reasonable for him anymore. (1Ob93/16g)

2016年8月30日

Liability issues

Payments via credit cards are conducted as “pull-payment-transactions”, which are payments initiated by or via the recipient of the payment. The bank of the recipient of the payment is initially liable for “pull-payment-transactions” until the bank of the payer is informed of the payment order. From this point on the bank of the payer is liable for all errors which occur until the payment is received by the bank of the recipient. This liability applies regardless of fault for the amount of the omitted or incorrectly transacted payment as well as fees and interests.

2016年8月1日

Dying: Not a reason to enforce security

The Supreme Court for Civil Matters ruled in a recent case, that the death of a borrower doesn’t automatically entail a right of the bank to enforce security. As a general rule, the loan agreement is still valid after the death of the borrower. Good cause to terminate the loan agreement only exists if the repayment of the loan is jeopardized due to deterioration of the financial situation of the borrower. (9Ob35/16m)

2016年7月13日

Incomplete is also wrong

Market manipulation can be committed in many different ways, one of them being disseminating information which gives false or misleading signals. In a recent decision the Supreme Administrative Court (VwGH) ruled that such market manipulation can also be committed by disseminating incomplete information. Also it does not matter how likely it is that such market manipulation will have a “significant effect” – the latter is a requirement solely for insider information but not for market manipulation. (2015/02/0200)

2016年6月12日