Following the widely noted decision of the Göttingen Administrative Court (VG Göttingen) of November 30, 2023 (Case No.: 4 A 212/20) regarding the illegality of the fencing and police guarding of the Göttingen building complex at Groner Landstraße 9-9b during the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020, affected families are now suing the City of Göttingen for damages. A total of €880,850.00 in damages is being claimed on behalf of 223 individuals – including 96 children – from 78 families before the Göttingen Regional Court. In accordance with the jurisprudence of the Federal Constitutional Court (Case No.: 1 BvR 1717/15) concerning unlawful deprivation of liberty, the individual claims are calculated at a minimum of €50.00 per person per hour of deprivation of liberty.
In December 2023, the city of Göttingen was initially requested out of court to make the payments or to waive the statute of limitations defense and enter into out-of-court settlement negotiations. The city of Göttingen did not respond, so the lawsuits had to be filed by December 31, 2023, due to the impending statute of limitations.
The city of Göttingen had placed the residents of the housing complex under general suspicion and damaged their public image. In its decision of November 30, 2023, the Göttingen Administrative Court therefore found not only a violation of the fundamental right to personal liberty guaranteed by Article 2 Paragraph 2 Sentence 2 in conjunction with Article 104 Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law, but also a violation of the right to the free development of one's personality (Article 2 Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law).
“The affected families have a claim for damages against the city of Göttingen under the so-called official liability claim (§ 839 of the German Civil Code) due to the obviously unlawful deprivation of liberty and the profound violation of their personal rights. The city clearly calculated that the claims would expire. The fact that the claims of these already marginalized people were not settled out of court and that the families are being forced into legal action is yet another example of financial maneuvering at the expense of the residents of Groner Landstraße 9-9b,” says attorney Sven Adam, who filed the lawsuits on behalf of the families, expressing his frustration with the city administration's out-of-court conduct. “We will now submit comprehensive motions for the taking of evidence in the proceedings to address the city administration's erroneous decisions and to make the sometimes life-threatening conditions within the complex during the lockdown the subject of the evidentiary hearing,” Adam concludes for now.
For further questions, please contact attorney Sven Adam using the contact details provided.
