An activity report
The facts of the case:
The applicants, a married couple, subscribe to an investment in a fund at a bank. During the consultation with an employee of the bank, the applicants make it clear that the investment is intended as a retirement provision. After some time, the fund gets into difficulties. The applicants assert claims for redemption and damages against the bank.
The conciliation hearing:
The claimants have submitted an application to CenaCom for conciliation proceedings. The bank, as the defendant, agrees to the conciliation proceedings so that a conciliation hearing can be scheduled at short notice. The defendants and their lawyers as well as two representatives of the defendant take part in the conciliation hearing.
The structure of the conciliation hearing is based on the typical course of a mediation procedure. The claimants first explain their position, occasionally supported by legal additions from their lawyer. The representatives of the defendant then comment on the allegations made and the claims asserted. The description of the facts is very detailed. Due to the complexity of the facts from capital market law, one focus of the hearing is the exchange of legal positions. In the conciliation hearing, the applicants take the opportunity to make it clear that the capital saved and invested was intended for their own retirement provision.
Finally, other possible motives for the liquidation of the fund investments are also addressed as part of the determination of interests. Finally, the parties analyze their legal positions with the help of a process risk analysis.
As a result, the parties agree on a step-by-step reversal in return for the assignment of the fund units and payment of a sum of money. The costs of the conciliation hearing are divided proportionately between the parties. The parties finally agree that the agreement will be declared enforceable by the Local Court of Karlsruhe.
In our view, this is a typical negotiation for investment disputes. The advantages of an out-of-court conciliation hearing are for the parties:
- in the short duration of the proceedings
- in the quotation of the costs of the conciliation office proceedings
- the possibility for applicants to draw attention to their particular situation (impending loss of pension provision)
- in the non-public hearing.
