Kasia Lenhardt's mother fights for her daughter's memory: injunctive relief against footballer Boateng

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Footballer Jérôme Boateng in France last September

Photo: Marcio Machado / Just Pictures / IMAGO

What Kasia Lenhardt was no longer able to do during her lifetime, her relatives now want to enforce in court: to defend themselves against the statements made by footballer Jérôme Boateng in an interview with "Bild".

The conversation with the headline "My ex wanted to destroy me" was published in early February 2021.

In it, Boateng attested to his former girlfriend Kasia Lenhardt, among other things, massive alcohol problems.

He also claimed that she blackmailed him into a relationship, threatened to "ruin his career" and caused him to lose his children.

A week after the interview appeared, Kasia Lenhardt committed suicide in the apartment she had shared with the former international.

The 25-year-old had previously contacted the Berlin media lawyer Markus Hennig.

With a request to see what she could do about the article.

After her death, her mother Adrianna Lenhardt took care of her.

Represented by Hennig, she is now arguing with Jérôme Boateng's lawyer before the Berlin district court.

The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at 2 p.m.

According to Adrianna Lenhardt, Boateng's untrue statements violate her daughter's so-called postmortem personality rights.

Lenhardt wants to prevent the statements from being distributed further and has been suing for an injunction since last summer.

The »Bild« interview can still be found online today, and many other media have also picked it up in their reports.

"dirt on the internet"

In pleadings available to SPIEGEL, lawyer Markus Hennig puts it this way: "The plaintiff wants to avoid that not only her grandchild, but also the underage siblings of the deceased daughter, i.e. the other children of the plaintiff, are exposed to this dirt on the Internet, especially in the phase of further adolescence will be further suspended.« Boateng's statements falsified the life of Kasia Lenhardt in the long term, according to Hennig.

The lawsuit shows that Lenhardt had previously asked the other party to voluntarily cease and desist.

Since Boateng did not comply, the court must now decide on the case.

Hennig explains that the omission is also important for the family because, in his opinion, this would make it easier for them to have the relevant content deleted from the network.

Boateng's side had emphasized to the court that he still regrets having given the interview and that he would not repeat his statements anyway.

Only a legal dispute is not the right way of processing, mediation and a personal conversation were also offered.

The jurisprudence on so-called postmortem personality rights is old.

It comes from a time when articles ended up in archives after publication.

According to Hennig, this case shows that a modern adjustment of the law is overdue.

After all, content on the Internet remained available to everyone at all times.

Hennig: »If politicians do not take up the issue, the Federal Court of Justice is ultimately required to adapt the post-mortem case law to the digital age.

In a specific case, how do you want to explain to the child of the deceased what it needs to read about the mother on the internet?

Especially since, in my opinion, there would be no question of deleting it if it were still alive«.

Boateng's lawyer had tried to exclude the public from the process.

She previously asked that the lawsuit be dismissed.

Mother Lenhardt was not entitled to claim injunctive relief, at most the son of the deceased could do that.

Postmortem personal rights are also not affected, since the interview was published during Kasia Lenhardt's lifetime.

In addition, Boateng's statements are true.

Jérôme Boateng is unlikely to appear in court on Tuesday.

The Lenhardt family will not be there either.

Adrianna Lenhardt told SPIEGEL: "I don't want to draw any more attention to our family.

The only thing I want is that the untrue claims about our daughter are no longer allowed to be spread in the media.«