Judgment made: the ringing of cow bells is part of the village - also part of Greiling

Created: 11/17/2022, 06:30

By: Rudi Stallein

Because the ringing of cowbells made it impossible to sleep at night, a Greilingen couple went to court – without success for the time being.

© dpa

The district court dismisses a lawsuit filed by a couple from Greiling who want peace and quiet before the ringing of cowbells at night.

The judge made his own picture on the spot.

Greiling –

A married couple in Greiling are disturbed by the ringing of cow bells on a meadow adjacent to their property in the middle of the village.

That's why the couple want the ringing to be banned from the meadow between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Two and a half years ago, the plaintiff and the defendant farmer met for the first time at a conciliation hearing at the district court in Wolfratshausen.

Now the parties hold a judgment in their hands: "The lawsuit is dismissed."

The defendant's lawyer, who saw himself challenged by the request of the couple who had moved to the village a few years ago to write an almost poetic reply to the complaint, had put it in rhyme at the beginning of the dispute: "Cow bells, they've always been around in Greiling.

And that's why they have a long tradition.

And when you move out of the city into the country, you know that there are cows and calves and bells.”

He was now confirmed in black and white in legal German.

Judge Dominik Sauter, who took a picture of the background noise on site on September 20, emphasized in his verdict that the specific environment also played a role in his decision.

As soon as he arrived at the on-site visit, he noticed that there were pastures in the village and on the outskirts of the village near residential buildings, on which significantly larger cows grazed in larger numbers with significantly larger cow bells than they had been found on the disputed meadow.

“The place is marked agricultural recognizable.

This is already evident on a short drive through by car and is even more apparent to everyone

who moves to this place and therefore usually deals much more thoroughly and frequently with the circumstances there,” the judge states.

"If cows with bells in Greiling weren't fundamentally socially appropriate, there would be fewer Bavarian villages where they would be.

But that cannot be assumed.”

"With the window closed, the bells could not be heard at all."

During his on-site visit, the judge found five calves between the ages of four and six months, four of which wore bells.

Outside, on the fence, the bells were clearly audible.

But we were able to talk at a normal volume.

The bells from the balcony of the plaintiff's house were heard "a little quieter".

In the bedroom, the background noise was "similar to that on the balcony with the window open, but again a little quieter".

"With the window closed, the bells could not be heard at all."

The plaintiffs, as attorney Andreas Sander pointed out at the time, "cannot escape the noise, cannot sleep at night and risk damage to their health."

For the asserted claim, however, “depends on a reasonable average person in the specific local situation.”

Usually below the limit of 5 decibels

An expert report had already been prepared a year earlier, in the summer of 2021.

During the three weeks in which the noise emissions were measured on the pasture, the limit value was exceeded by 5 decibels only on one night for a period of around 30 minutes due to the noise of cow bells.

Otherwise, the values ​​​​were consistently below during the day and at night.

The court came to the conclusion: "Here there is only an insignificant impairment." Consequently, the noise emissions caused by the cowbells are to be tolerated by the plaintiffs in accordance with Section 906 Paragraph 1 of the German Civil Code.

The plaintiffs can still appeal the verdict.

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You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.