The lockdown is pushing retailers to the barricades.
More and more companies are going to court.
Lawyers are certain: the chances of success increase every day.
For a good two months, fashion retailers, electronics chains and shoe stores have been closed because of the Corona * lockdown - with dramatic consequences.
The trade association (HDE) warns that two out of three trading companies are financially in danger.
Even financially strong companies are gradually running out of breath.
Many companies no longer want to put up with the closings and are going to court.
According to the industry, the lawsuits are "an act of desperation".
Wave of lawsuits: MediaMarkt Saturn, Breuninger, Obi want to legally overturn lockdown
Just last week, the well-known Stuttgart fashion house Breuninger made headlines across Germany.
The Swabians, who are among the industry heavyweights with sales of a good 900 million euros in the pre-Corona year 2019, have filed lawsuits in six federal states and are not alone.
The largest German electronics retailer MediaMarkt Saturn has also submitted an urgent application to the Münster Higher Administrative Court to lift the closings in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Further applications in other federal states are to follow.
“The factories that have been closed in Germany for more than two months are disproportionate.
The retail trade has demonstrably never been an infection hotspot, "says Germany boss Florian Gietl, justifying the move.
Now the DIY chain Obi and the textile chain Peek & Cloppenburg also want to overturn the lockdowns in court.
The clothing chain s.Oliver is apparently even examining the course before the Federal Constitutional Court.
"If we decide to do so, we would justify a lawsuit very fundamentally and bring up the claims that we associate with it very vehemently," said company boss Claus-Dietrich Lahrs of the daily newspaper Die Welt.
The business of S. Oliver was "disrupted by political decisions to an extent that we have not seen in the last 50 years".
Lahrs said that the company had to deal with "a million euros in loss" every day.
"This kind of thing gets under the skin even of very healthy companies".
A huge avalanche of lawsuits is rolling towards the German court
Many smaller traders have long been fighting for their existence.
The Unitex purchasing association supports urgent applications from two dealers in Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate to reopen their stores.
At the same time, Unitex and the law firm Nieding + Barth are preparing a class action lawsuit against hundreds of retailers for damages.
"Well over 300 dealers are taking part", reported Unitex Marketing Director Xaver Albrecht.
There is also already a commitment from a litigation cost financer who wants to provide one million euros for the next legal steps.
Constitutional lawyers estimate the chances of success better with each day of the closure.
The courts would have to weigh the extent to which the risk of contagion justifies interference with other fundamental rights such as freedom of occupation and property, said the former Vice President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Ferdinand Kirchhof.
Wave of lawsuits: concerns are also growing in the courts because of the lockdown
Concerns are also growing among the competent courts.
Just over a week ago, the higher administrative court in Lower Saxony questioned the incidences targeted by the federal government.
With regard to future proceedings, one wants to point out "that the connection of opening steps to a 7-day incidence of a maximum of 35, as the legally non-binding decision of the Federal Chancellor with the Prime Ministers of February 10, 2021 provides", neither with the regulation of the Infection Protection Act, nor the ability of the health authorities to trace contacts.
In other words: The Lower Saxony administrative judges set the bar significantly higher for restrictions.
Administrative law specialist Olaf Dziallas from the commercial law firm FPS believes that this view will "quickly gain legal acceptance".
Politicians will have to rethink and “decide much more in individual cases or with a view to individual regions based on the actual circumstances about corona measures,” Dziallas told Focus.
The example of food retail shows that safe shopping is possible in the pandemic.
In terms of constitutional law, “nothing speaks against retailers with strict hygiene concepts and limited numbers of customers being allowed to open”.
In the industry, the verdict is clear anyway.
It is “completely incomprehensible”, says a large fashion house, “that hygiene measures should not work for us, but they do for hairdressers, grocers or drug stores.”
* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen digital editorial network.