As of: February 3, 2024, 6:00 p.m
By: Katrin Kleinschmidt
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Will soon belong to Michael Schwarzmaier again: the bakery on Pöltnerstrasse in Weilheim.
© Ralf Ruder
A court has ruled in favor of Michael Schwarzmaier: he should get his whole food bakery back.
What happens next is still completely unclear.
Weilheim/Peiting
– It is a milestone in the dispute over the whole food bakery: The Munich II Regional Court has ruled in favor of the former owner Michael Schwarzmaier.
He gets the production facility in Peiting and the shop on Pöltnerstrasse in Weilheim back, and the sale is to be reversed.
Those involved found out in writing - no one showed up for the verdict.
In September 2022, Schwarzmaier once agreed on the sale with Stefan Zeitler.
But Zeitler never paid the agreed price of 210,000 euros, as described in the judgment, which is available to the local newspaper.
According to the document, he justified this by saying that “significant defects” had become apparent when the company was handed over on October 1, 2022.
Eliminating these would have cost around 229,000 euros - this meant that Schwarzmaier's claim to the purchase price expired, Zeitler found.
He also only paid around 1,200 euros for the inventory instead of the estimated 12,980 euros.
Otherwise, Schwarzmaier received nothing.
Production in Peiting continued under Zeitler, as did sales in Weilheim and deliveries to customers.
Schwarzmaier amends the lawsuit - with success
But things were bubbling in the background.
Schwarzmaier initially sued for payment of the purchase price, but after some time changed his demand to the effect that the purchase contract should be reversed.
According to the ruling, the court considered the change in the complaint to be “pertinent” and that it “promotes the final resolution of the dispute and avoids new disputes”.
Zeitler did not present any evidence in court from which it could be concluded that Schwarzmaier had breached his duty.
The judge therefore decided that Zeitler must return the “subject of the contract” – this includes, among other things, the entire machine equipment and the business furnishings.
The rooms themselves are rented in both Peiting and Weilheim.
Zeitler also has to pick up the items he brings in.
On top of that, he should pay Schwarzmaier's pre-trial legal fees and cover 96 percent of the costs of the legal dispute.
No legal action should be taken
Four percent remain with Schwarzmaier himself, whose lawsuit the court described as “predominantly well-founded” – and followed his demands on the central points.
“All tall tales have been brushed off!” he writes by email in response to an inquiry from the local newspaper.
Schwarzmaier writes that he cannot provide any information about to what extent or whether it will be reopened, but he does not want to make any further comment, "since our bakery has suffered major damage."
It seems certain that he will get her back.
Stefan Zeitler, under whose leadership the whole food bakery filed for bankruptcy, announces that he will accept the verdict and not appeal.
His lawyer now suggests a date for the handover to Schwarzmaier.
Further proceedings are pending
The dispute is not completely over.
The verdict is independent of civil law proceedings that are still ongoing, says Zeitler - without being specific.
The fact is that the situation last escalated at the end of December, when Schwarzmaier entered the rooms in Peiting with the landlords and wanted to uncover hygiene deficiencies.
He had video material made for this purpose.
The parties clashed so much on site that the police had to come twice.
Schwarzmaier reported his concerns about safety and hygiene to the district office at the beginning of January, which wanted to have the allegations examined and stipulated that the ovens be swept as a short-term requirement.
In return, Zeitler accused Schwarzmaier of vandalism, trespassing and damage to property.
He filed a complaint in January.
For the courts, this dispute is probably not yet over.