GERMANY Law and Practice Contributed by: Michael Molitoris, Tanja Hütt, Maike Dickmann and Simon Marchlewski, SZA Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz
(see 2.7 Rules for Disclosure of Documents in Product Liability Cases ) and they will be able to use the information obtained to their advantage. Disclosure under the future national implementa - tion of the Product Liability Directive cannot be avoided without significant procedural risks. This is because failure to disclose evidence leads to a legal presumption that the “product” is defec - tive. The Product Liability Directive also introduces further presumptions regarding product defects and causation. Consequently, the traditional rule that the claimant must prove their case is increasingly being undermined in product liabil - ity matters. This effectively means the burden of proof is shifting to the defendant. Unresolved factual uncertainties are likely to disadvantage defendants more often in the future. 2.10 Courts in Which Product Liability Claims Are Brought There are no specialist product liability courts in Germany. Cases are instead handled as stand - ard civil law matters under the ZPO. District Courts ( Amtsgerichte ) have jurisdiction over cases where the amount in dispute is up to EUR5,000. For disputes exceeding this amount, Regional Courts ( Landgerichte ) are the compe - tent courts in the first instance. There were plans to increase the threshold for Amtsgerichte from EUR5,000 to EUR8,000 but this increase has not been enacted into law yet. An interesting new feature of the German civil court system, particularly with regard to cross- border disputes, came into force on 1 April 2025 through the Judicial Location Strengthening Act ( Justizstandort-Stärkungsgesetz ). This allows federal states to establish special commercial courts as senates at Higher Regional Courts
( Oberlandesgerichte ). Higher Regional Courts can hear proceedings in the first instance if the parties agree to bring a commercial dispute before a commercial court and the value of the claim exceeds EUR500,000. For disputes below EUR500,000, special com - mercial chambers can be established at specific Landgerichte , with appeals going to the com - mercial courts at the Higher Regional Courts. One advantage of bringing a claim before a commercial court is that the proceedings can be conducted entirely in English. Whether these procedural options are available depends on whether and to what extent federal states make use of the option of establishing commercial courts. The commercial courts cur - rently established in Germany mostly specialise in handling disputes in specific legal areas, such as corporate law and often do not include prod - uct liability cases. It remains to be seen whether more commercial courts open to all civil disputes between commercial parties will be established in the future, thereby encompassing product liability disputes. Judges will decide product liability cases. No juries are used in the courts in Germany. In terms of claims under the ProdHaftG, liability is limited to a maximum of EUR85 million in personal injury cases involving “product” or similar “products” with the same defect. However, under the new Product Liability Directive, this maximum liability limit will no longer apply in the future (see 2.1 Product Liability Causes of Action and Sources of Law ). 2.11 Appeal Mechanisms for Product Liability Claims There are also no specific rules with regard to appeal mechanisms and timeframes for product
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