Our sites in Stuttgart and Mannheim

Our sites in Stuttgart and Mannheim

The Stuttgart Commercial Court and the Mannheim Commercial Court each consist of a commercial civil division and a division for commercial matters of the Regional Court of Stuttgart and the Regional Court of Mannheim.

As such, you can normally decide whether you would like your case to be heard in the civil division with three regular judges or in the division for commercial matters with one regular judge and two commercial judges. The civil division might be advisable if, for example, your case mainly involves highly complex legal matters. The division for commercial matters can be ideal if your case mainly requires expert commercial knowledge and experience regardless of the legal issues or if it demands a combination of legal and industry-specific expertise (as is the case with assessing the value of companies).

Our Higher Regional Courts of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe also house panels which specialise in appeals so the entire legal dispute can be seen through to its conclusion quickly and to an impeccably high standard.

Technical equipment

Hearings can be held using state-of-the-art technology in both Stuttgart and Mannheim. The technical equipment includes modern video-conference technology and the latest presentation technology. Additionally, the parties can opt to retire to rooms with a pleasant atmosphere for meetings and discussions. These rooms are also fitted with the latest technology.

Competence and jurisdiction

The Stuttgart Commercial Court and the Mannheim Commercial Court are the courts of first instance for major civil hearings under commercial law, especially corporate disputes, corporate acquisitions and significant financial disputes in the B2B sector, provided that one or more other civil divisions do not have special jurisdiction.


Overview of competence and jurisdiction

Stuttgart Commercial Court

  • Disputes in connection with the acquisition of companies or shares of companies
  • Disputes resulting from mutual commercial transactions with a value in dispute of at least € 1 million
  • Corporate disputes

Mannheim Commercial Court

  • Disputes in connection with the acquisition of companies or shares of companies
  • Disputes resulting from mutual commercial transactions
  • Corporate disputes
  • Disputes resulting from bank and financial transactions
  • Each with a value in dispute of at least € 2 million

The roster allocating court business is as follows for the Stuttgart Commercial Court:

49th Civil Division

Presiding judge:
VRLG Dr. Melin

Deputy presiding judge:
R’inLG Dr. Malcher (0,5)

Assessor:
RLG Rinnert
R’inLG (kr. A.) Dr. Raach (0,5)

Competence and jurisdiction:

a) Corporate disputes as long as the focus of the dispute does not fall under investment law, especially legal disputes

  • aa) concerning claims resulting from business partnerships,
  • bb) concerning internal relationships within companies,
  • cc) concerning disputes between companies,
  • dd) between a company and its bodies resulting from the employment relationship and
  • ee) concerning the internal liability of management and supervisory bodies of companies.

This does not apply to proceedings under the German Act on Arbitration Proceedings (SpruchG) or the exclusive jurisdiction of the divisions over commercial matters.

b) Disputes in connection with the acquisition of companies or shares of companies, as long as the focus of the dispute does not fall under investment law.
c) Disputes at first instance concerning mutual commercial transactions with an amount in dispute of EUR 1 million or more at the time of receipt of the action, unless there is special jurisdiction of one or more other civil chambers of one or more other civil chambers exists.

Representation: Presiding judge of the 31st Commercial Division

II. Commercial Divisions

(26)
31st Commercial Division:

Presiding judge:
Dr Schumann (Presiding Regional Court Judge)

Competence and jurisdiction:

a) Commercial matters within the meaning of Section 95 ff. of the German Courts Constitution Act (GVG) in a rotation pursuant to margin numbers 107 and 108.

b) The hearings listed in section 13(2) no. 1–7a and no. 9–11 of the ordinance on judicial competence (ZuVOJu), other legal disputes concerning the internal relationships (Section 95(1) no. 4a GVG) of stock corporations, European public companies (i.e. societas Europaea) or limited partnerships or similar entities under foreign law and the hearings listed in section 15a no. 2 of the ordinance on judicial competence (ZuVOJu) pursuant to Section 66(1) sentence 1 of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act (WpÜG).

c) The hearings listed in section 13(2) no. 8 of the ordinance on judicial competence (ZuVOJu), pursuant to the German Act on Arbitration Proceedings (SpruchG), in a rotation with the 40th and 42nd Commercial Divisions, in which regard the 40th and 42nd Commercial Divisions are only taken into consideration every second time. When the first application for a structural measure for which no shareholder action has so far been pending is submitted, ten hearings are allocated to the relevant commercial divisions, regardless of the number of other applications submitted in connection with the same measure, in accordance with marginal numbers 107 and 108 (general rotation).

d) Disputes in connection with the acquisition of companies or shares of companies, as long as the focus of the dispute does not fall under investment law.

e) Disputes concerning mutual commercial transactions with a value in dispute of at least € 2 million when the lawsuit was filed, provided that one or more other commercial divisions do not have special jurisdiction or, pursuant to marginal number 28 b), the dispute is resulting from construction and architectural contracts or engineering contracts to the extent that they relate to a construction service.

Representation:
Presiding judge of the 49th Civil Division

The following regulations are added to the roster allocating court business:

Civil Division 3 – Mannheim Commercial Court
Subject area: Hearings, where the value in dispute was at least € 2 million when the lawsuit was filed or the claim justified, concerning

a) corporate disputes, especially

  • claims resulting from partnerships (Section 705 ff of the German Civil Code (BGB)) and co-ownership (Section 741 ff. BGB)
  • internal relationships of partnerships, silent partnerships and registered cooperatives, as well as associations and disputes between them and their bodies;
  • legal disputes between a company and its bodies resulting from the employment relationship;
  • the internal liability of management and supervisory bodies of associations incorporated under private law and of savings banks, as well as other financial institutions under public law, including other legal disputes between these and their bodies;

b) disputes arising from company law (Section 17 ff. of the German Commercial Code (HGB));
c) disputes in connection with the acquisition of companies or shares of companies
d) claims due to the accounting obligations of companies and the infringement thereof;
e) disputes arising from Sections 21, 22 and 24 of the German Securities Prospectus Act (WpPG) or Sections 20 to 22 of the German Capital Investment Act (VermAnlG);
f) the disputes listed in section 13(2) of the ordinance on judicial competence (ZuVOJu; especially pursuant to the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG), but excluding the shareholder actions listed in number 8) unless the Commercial Division has exclusive jurisdiction, with precedence over Civil Division 10;
g) disputes resulting from mutual commercial transactions (Section 343 HGB) unless a different civil division has special jurisdiction;
h) disputes resulting from bank and financial transactions (with precedence over Civil Division 9).

Presiding judge:
Dr Henning (Presiding Regional Court Judge)

Deputy presiding judge and assessor:
Stihler (Regional Court Judge) 

Other assessors:
Dr Alles (Regional Court Judge)
Dr Seibel (Regional Court Judge)
Dr Brauneisen (Judge)

1st Commercial Division (CD 21)
Mannheim Commercial Court
Subject area: Commercial matters arising from all subject areas of Civil Division 3 (with consideration for the value in dispute threshold and with precedence over the other commercial divisions).

Presiding judge:
Dr Henning (Presiding Regional Court Judge)

Regular representative:
Hark (Presiding Regional Court Judge)

Other representatives:
Gredner-Steigleider (Presiding Regional Court Judge)

as well as the ordinary members of Civil Division 3 in order of their seniority, beginning with the lowest service number.

Stuttgart and Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court

Specialised appeal panels have been set up at the Stuttgart and Karlsruhe Higher Regional Courts, which are responsible for appeals and complaints against the decisions of the Stuttgart and Mannheim Chambers and also offer comparable advantages.

HIGHER REGIONAL COURT OF STUTTGART

– Administrative office –

Resolution of 20 October 2020

By decision of the cabinet of the state government on 21 July 2020 and by resolution of the administrative office of 24 September 2020, a Stuttgart Commercial Court comprising a commercial civil division and a division for commercial matters has been established at the Regional Court of Stuttgart with effect from 15 October 2020. A 21st Civil Division shall be established with effect from 1 November 2020 in order to take into account the specialisation in the court of first instance. 

With effect from 1 November 2020, the following is added to the roster allocating court business as marginal number 20a:

21st Civil Division

Presiding judge:
Vatter (Presiding Higher Regional Court Judge) 

Deputy presiding judge:
Dr Klink (Higher Regional Court Judge) 

Assessor:
Dr Vels (Higher Regional Court Judge)

Munding (Higher Regional Court Judge)
(all with an undefined portion of their working capacity)

Jurisdiction:
a) Appeals and complaints over which the 20th Civil Division would have jurisdiction pursuant to marginal number 20a (excluding the proceedings and legal disputes listed in Section 95(2) GVG) or over which the 14th Civil Division would have jurisdiction pursuant to marginal number 14b, provided that, as shown in the transcript, key parts of the verbal proceedings, especially statements or witness examinations, were conducted in English in coordination with the parties in the original proceedings, 

b) Appeals and complaints in legal disputes concerning claims resulting from contracts for the acquisition of companies or of at least 25% of the shares of a company, provided that the transaction is not purely a stock exchange transaction,

c) Appeals and complaints in legal disputes concerning mutual commercial transactions with a value in dispute of at least € 2 million when the lawsuit was filed, provided that one or more other civil divisions do not have special jurisdiction.

Courtroom: Commercial Court, Schelmenwasenstr. 16–20, Stuttgart-Fasanenhof Representation: 20th Civil Division 

Marginal no. 44 of the roster allocating court business is amended as follows with effect from 1 November 2020:
1.) 2nd Civil Division, to the extent that it is an antitrust division (marginal no. 2b) and c))
2.) 21st Civil Division with jurisdiction pursuant to marginal no. 20a b). 

The subsequent numerals shall change accordingly.

More information will follow shortly!

Directions

Our sites in Stuttgart and Mannheim are situated in two of the largest metropolitan areas in Baden-Wuerttemberg and enjoy outstanding connections to local and regional transport networks. They are not far from the international airports in Stuttgart and Frankfurt am Main.