{"id":9968,"date":"2023-06-02T10:12:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T08:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ab.peritus-ra.com\/?p=9968"},"modified":"2023-10-30T11:41:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T10:41:44","slug":"the-liability-of-the-managing-director-of-a-gmbh-co-kg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/2023\/06\/the-liability-of-the-managing-director-of-a-gmbh-co-kg\/","title":{"rendered":"The liability of the Managing Director of a GmbH & Co. KG"},"content":{"rendered":"

In its judgment dated March 14, 2023 \u2013 I ZR 162\/21, the Fede\u00adral Court of Jus\u00adti\u00adce (BGH) addres\u00adsed the ques\u00adti\u00adon of whe\u00adther and to what ext\u00adent the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor of a mana\u00adging limi\u00adt\u00aded part\u00adner GmbH has a duty of care towards the KG (limi\u00adt\u00aded part\u00adner\u00adship).<\/p>\n

Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The defen\u00addant was the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor of U. GmbH, which, in turn, was a limi\u00adt\u00aded part\u00adner of D. GmbH & Co. KG. Accor\u00adding to the part\u00adner\u00adship agree\u00adment, the exclu\u00adsi\u00adve right to mana\u00adge the part\u00adner\u00adship belon\u00adged to U. GmbH. The deb\u00adtor was struc\u00adtu\u00adred as a public limi\u00adt\u00aded part\u00adner\u00adship (Publikums-Kommanditgesellschaft). The deb\u00adtor rai\u00adsed inves\u00adtor funds to make them available to the now insol\u00advent D. AG. D. AG was sup\u00adpo\u00adsed to use the loans to acqui\u00adre real estate. The deb\u00adtor inten\u00added to make dis\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adti\u00adons to inves\u00adtors with the agreed inte\u00adrest pay\u00adments from D. AG. Accor\u00adding to the loan agree\u00adment bet\u00adween the deb\u00adtor and D. AG, the debtor\u2019s loan claims should be exten\u00adsi\u00adve\u00adly secu\u00adred.<\/p>\n

Con\u00adtra\u00adry to the con\u00adtrac\u00adtu\u00adal agree\u00adment, the loan claims of the deb\u00adtor were only par\u00adti\u00adal\u00adly secu\u00adred.<\/p>\n

After the insol\u00adven\u00adcy pro\u00adcee\u00addings were initia\u00adted against the deb\u00adtor, the plain\u00adti\u00adff insol\u00adven\u00adcy admi\u00adnis\u00adtra\u00adtor sought reim\u00adbur\u00adse\u00adment from the defen\u00addant for par\u00adti\u00adal loan amounts. The Regio\u00adnal Court ruled in favor of the plain\u00adti\u00adff. The defen\u00addan\u00adt\u2019s appeal was unsuc\u00adcessful, so he pur\u00adsued his goal of dis\u00admiss\u00ading the lawsu\u00adit with the per\u00admit\u00adted revi\u00adsi\u00adon.<\/p>\n

Decis\u00adi\u00adon of the BGH: Claim for dama\u00adges exists<\/strong><\/p>\n

The BGH affirms a claim for dama\u00adges by the plain\u00adti\u00adff against the defen\u00addant under Sec\u00adtion 43(2) of the Ger\u00adman Limi\u00adt\u00aded Lia\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty Com\u00adpa\u00adnies Act (GmbHG) due to negli\u00adgent manage\u00adment since the KG (limi\u00adt\u00aded part\u00adner\u00adship) falls within the scope of pro\u00adtec\u00adtion of the orga\u00adniza\u00adtio\u00adnal and employ\u00adment rela\u00adti\u00adonship bet\u00adween the GmbH and the defen\u00addant.<\/p>\n

A pro\u00adtec\u00adti\u00adve effect in favor of third par\u00adties is assu\u00admed when\u00adever a third party comes into cont\u00adact with the main per\u00adfor\u00admance as inten\u00added, and the cre\u00addi\u00adtor has a legi\u00adti\u00adma\u00adte inte\u00adrest in inclu\u00adding the third party within the scope of the con\u00adtrac\u00adt\u2019s pro\u00adtec\u00adtion. Fur\u00adther\u00admo\u00adre, there must be a need for exten\u00adding pro\u00adtec\u00adtion based on good faith (Treu und Glau\u00adben). Addi\u00adtio\u00adnal\u00adly, the inclu\u00adsi\u00adon of the third party must be known or at least reco\u00adgnizable to the party to be pro\u00adtec\u00adted. In this case, all of these con\u00addi\u00adti\u00adons are met.<\/p>\n

The KG came into cont\u00adact with the defen\u00addan\u00adt\u2019s ser\u00advices as inten\u00added. The\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre, errors made by the defen\u00addant affec\u00adted the KG.<\/p>\n

The inte\u00adrest of the employ\u00ading GmbH was that the defen\u00addant should exer\u00adcise pro\u00adper manage\u00adment of the KG as part of his orga\u00adniza\u00adtio\u00adnal duties. This is espe\u00adci\u00adal\u00adly the case becau\u00adse the GmbH is lia\u00adble for dama\u00adges resul\u00adting from the breach of the manage\u00adment tasks it had under\u00adta\u00adken for the KG.<\/p>\n

The exten\u00adsi\u00adon of con\u00adtract pro\u00adtec\u00adtion was also jus\u00adti\u00adfied by a need based on good faith. Due to the con\u00adtrac\u00adtu\u00adal pro\u00advi\u00adsi\u00adons, the defen\u00addan\u00adt\u2019s brea\u00adches of duty direct\u00adly affec\u00adted the KG. Con\u00adse\u00adquent\u00adly, the KG reli\u00aded on the defen\u00addan\u00adt\u2019s con\u00adsci\u00aden\u00adtious and careful per\u00adfor\u00admance of his duties, par\u00adti\u00adcu\u00adlar\u00adly since the KG did not have the aut\u00adho\u00adri\u00adty to give ins\u00adtruc\u00adtions to the defen\u00addant, which res\u00adted with the mana\u00adging GmbH.<\/p>\n

These cir\u00adcum\u00ads\u00adtances were also reco\u00adgnizable to the defen\u00addant. The BGH now ans\u00adwers the pre\u00advious\u00adly open ques\u00adti\u00adon of whe\u00adther a mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor\u2019s lia\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty to the KG under Sec\u00adtion 43(2) of the Ger\u00adman Limi\u00adt\u00aded Lia\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty Com\u00adpa\u00adnies Act (GmbHG) is appli\u00adca\u00adble even when the manage\u00adment of the KG is not the sole and essen\u00adti\u00adal task of the GmbH, with a \u201cyes.\u201d In such cases, there is suf\u00adfi\u00adci\u00adent reco\u00adgniza\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty for the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor regar\u00adding lia\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty for brea\u00adches of duty toward the KG. The lia\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty risk is also reco\u00adgnizable when a GmbH and, the\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre, the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtors per\u00adform manage\u00adment duties in mul\u00adti\u00adple com\u00adpa\u00adnies. The KG can rely on the requi\u00adred care and dili\u00adgence from the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor in such cases as well.<\/p>\n

Legal Assess\u00adment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Accor\u00adding to the BGH\u2019s per\u00adspec\u00adti\u00adve, a KG is included within the scope of the employ\u00adment con\u00adtract of the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor and also within the orga\u00adniza\u00adtio\u00adnal rela\u00adti\u00adonship bet\u00adween the GmbH and the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor. The poten\u00adti\u00adal lia\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty of the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor to the KG does not depend on whe\u00adther the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor holds their posi\u00adti\u00adon in a limi\u00adt\u00aded part\u00adner GmbH or a gene\u00adral part\u00adner GmbH, nor does it depend on whe\u00adther the GmbH, in addi\u00adti\u00adon to its invol\u00advement in a KG, also mana\u00adges other com\u00adpa\u00adnies.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In its judgment dated March 14, 2023 \u2013 I ZR 162\/21, the Fede\u00adral Court of Jus\u00adti\u00adce (BGH) addres\u00adsed the ques\u00adti\u00adon of whe\u00adther and to what ext\u00adent the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor of a mana\u00adging limi\u00adt\u00aded part\u00adner GmbH has a duty of care towards the KG (limi\u00adt\u00aded part\u00adner\u00adship). Facts: The defen\u00addant was the mana\u00adging direc\u00adtor of U. GmbH,\u2026","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,215,216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-companies-and-their-organs","category-crisis","category-restructuring-and-insolvency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9969,"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9968\/revisions\/9969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peritus-ra.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}