Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: VIII ZR 16/07
    • Member State: Germany
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Other
    • Decision date: 28/11/2007
    • Court: BGH (Supreme court)
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff:
    • Defendant:
    • Keywords:
  • Directive Articles
    Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 3, 2.
  • Headnote
    The rescission of a contract does not exclude a further claim for damages in lieu of performance, even if the claim is made with respect to compensation for loss of use arising from the fact that the buyer could not use the purchased good due to a defect. This rule also applies to loss of use arising from the return of the defective good to the seller.
    For establishing whether the buyer suffered a pecuniary detriment due to loss of use arising from the return of the defective good (because of the rescission of the contract), the general rules on the legal consequences of a rescission apply.
  • Facts
    In the beginning of September 2005 the plaintiff bought a second-hand car from the defendant. On 17 January 2006, the plaintiff’s husband caused an accident due to black ice. On this occasion, the car was severely damaged. An inspection carried out by an expert on the same day showed that had already been involved in another accident before it was sold. Thus, the plaintiff refrained from having the car repaired (for app. EUR 4.000 – 5.000) and on 23 January 2006 declared the contract of sale rescinded, claiming that the car had not been accident-free. From this day, she rented a car from an acquaintance. On 27 January 2006, the defendant took back the damaged vehicle and refunded the purchase price (minus compensation for the time the car had been used). On 15 February 2006, the plaintiff purchased another car. She sued for compensation amounting to EUR 1.100 for the rental fee paid for the substitute car between 23 January and 14 February 2006. The claim has been dismissed by the courts of the lower instances.
  • Legal issue
    The Federal Court of Justice has rejected the plaintiff’s appeal on a point of law. A claim for compensation for loss of use could generally be considered, if the buyer was not able to use a purchased vehicle due to a defect. Contrary to the opinion of the appellate court, the rescission of the contract did not bar this claim (§ 325 BGB). However, in this case the plaintiff was not entitled to compensation because she could not have used the car after 17 January 2006 due to the accident even if it had been free of defects upon the conclusion of the contract. To be able to use the car, she would have had to invest between 4.000 and 5.000 EUR. Having saved these costs by renting a substitute car, these costs had to be subtracted from her claim for compensation according to the theory of difference (“Differenztheorie”). Otherwise the existence of the defect would put her in a better position than she would be in if the car had been free of defects.
  • Decision

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