GERMANY Law and Practice Contributed by: Tanja Pfitzner, Fabian von Schlabrendorff and Niklas-Arne Hecht, Pfitzner Legal
Actions for monetary claims against a person not domiciled in Germany will fall within the jurisdic- tion of the German court in whose district that person’s property is located, if the subject matter of the dispute has a sufficient domestic connec- tion with Germany. Agreements made between the parties regard- ing the choice of place of jurisdiction are gener- ally accepted; however, such agreements may be invalid if a consumer is a contracting party. The appearance of a defendant in court without objecting to the jurisdiction of the court generally gives the court international and local jurisdic- tion. If the circumstances determining the jurisdiction of the court change later, the court does not lose its jurisdiction ( perpetuatio fori ). 3.4 Initial Complaint Court proceedings are initiated by filing a state- ment of claim with the court. Since 2022, docu- ments may only be filed via the special electronic attorney mailbox. The statement of claim must meet certain man- datory requirements, such as being written in German and signed, and setting out the facts on which the relief sought is based. It may refer to exhibits. It is at the discretion of the court to allow exhibits in a foreign language, provided that the court has sufficient command of the respective language. If a court does not permit foreign-language exhibits, the party relying on them must, at the request of the court, prepare translations in whole or at least of the relevant passages.
There is no procedural rule requiring the plaintiff to include a legal analysis of the case, but this is common practice and advisable. The plaintiff may amend the claim in subse- quent submissions or add additional claims if the defendant gives its consent or the court deems the amendments appropriate. Specific types of amendments are not subject to these limitations, such as the correction, extension or restriction of the original motions or the addition or correction of the original factual statements. 3.5 Rules of Service Once the statement of claim has been filed, the plaintiff is required to make an advance payment of the full court costs. As long as this mandatory requirement is not fulfilled, the court will not serve the statement of claim on the defendant. While subsequent submissions may be served directly between the parties’ attorneys, the statement of claim can only be served by the court. If a defendant refuses service, or if the defendant cannot be reached at their domicile or place of business, the statement of claim may be left in these premises or deposited at the post office or the competent local court with a notice to the defendant, in lieu of service itself. For defendants domiciled outside Germany within the EU, service of process is governed by Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 (EU Service Regulation). The EU Service Regulation allows for electronic service; insofar as Germany cur- rently only allows service by means of a qualified electronic registered delivery service. Service in other countries may be affected in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Civil Procedure Convention, the Hague Service Convention or one of the bilateral treaties to which Germany has acceded. In the absence of a treaty, service
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