Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: 20 U 2204/07
    • Member State: Germany
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Other
    • Decision date: 20/06/2007
    • Court: Oberlandesgericht (Appellate court, München)
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff:
    • Defendant:
    • Keywords:
  • Directive Articles
    Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 3, 1.
  • Headnote
    If no place of performance for the removal of defects has been expressly specified in a contract of sale on a vehicle for private purposes, the place of performance for the removal is to be estab-lished under recourse to the original place of performance for the (primary) claim of specific per-formance under the contract of sale.
  • Facts
    The plaintiff bought a second-hand car from the defendant. The vehicle was defective. The plaintiff requested the defendant to repair the car within a reasonable period of time, to which the defendant agreed in principle. However, the defendant requested the plaintiff to transport the car to the defendant’s principal office to the purpose of the repair being effectuated there. The plaintiff refused and – without success – demanded from the defendant to pick up the defective vehicle. Subsequently, she declared the rescission of the contract. The Regional Court has upheld her claims arising from the alleged rescission of the contract. With its appeal, the defendant applies for the claims to be dismissed by the Higher Regional Court.
  • Legal issue
    The plaintiff has no claims whatsoever arising from a rescission of the contract of sale. The plaintiff has set the defendant the deadline to remove the defects necessary under § 323(1) BGB. In particular, according to the wording of § 439 BGB the possibility of the buyer being supplied with another good free of defects is not limited to the sale of generic goods. It is principle also to be considered with respect to the sale of specific goods as second-hand cars. On the other hand, it was impossible for the defendant to repair the car as had been demanded by the buyer, since she did not make the car available to the defendant at his principal office in accordance to the defendant’s offer of 13 December 2005. Thus, the plaintiff has refused to cooperate with respect to a matter which was a legal prerequisite for the right to rescind the contract.

    Due to lack of an express contractual stipulation in the terms of § 269(1) BGB, the place of performance for the removal of the defect was the defendant’s principal office rather than the place the defective car was located at the time this remedy was claimed. This is because the place the removal of the defects has to be performed at is the original place of performance of the primary contractual claim of specific performance. This is due to the fact that the delivery of a defective good does not constitute a full performance which extinguishes the obligation under § 362(1) BGB. Rather, the original right to specific performance changes into a claim for the removal of the defect under §§ 437 no. 1 and 439 BGB. Insofar, the claim for the removal of the defect is a modified claim for specific performance. This assessment is not changed by Art. 3 of the Directive 1999/44/EC, which – no more than the German law of sales – does not contain a specification of the place the cure must be rendered. Instead, it only states that “the consumer may require the seller to repair the goods or he may require the seller to replace them, in either case free of charge” and “within a reasonable time and without any significant inconvenience”. This provision has been transposed in § 439(2) BGB which states that “the seller must bear all expenses required for the purpose of cure, in particular transport, workmen's travel, work and materials costs”. At least in cases requiring extensive inspections and repair which are evidently only possible at a garage, the seller’s principal office generally is the place of performance for the removal of the defect under § 439(1) BGB.
  • Decision

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