How do KapMuG proceedings proceed?
The purpose of the model proceedings is to bundle all pending lawsuits in order to prevent divergent decisions and to relieve the courts of appeal. All pending lawsuits against EY will be suspended and the plaintiffs will be parties to the model proceedings as defendants. All actions that are newly filed during the ongoing model proceedings will be stayed and the plaintifs will also become parties to the model proceedings.
After the court has determined the model plaintiff from the suspended proceedings, all those who have not filed a lawsuit can register their claims with a period of 6 months. However, these applicants do not thereby become parties to the model proceedings.
In the course of the model proceedings, the central issues that affect all investors equally are the clarified in accordance with the requested declaratory objectives and decided by the model decision. In addition, the Capital Investor Model Proceedings Act provides for the possibility of the parties (the defendants and the plaintiffs, but not the applicants) to the model proceedings concluding a settlement.
If no settlement is reached in the model proceedings, an appeal on points of law may be lodged with the Federal Court of Justice against the model decision. The suspended lawsuits of the individual plaintiffs will only be resumed after the end of the model proceedings with legal effect. These will then ultimately only deal with the individual aspects of the lawsuit, such as the calculation of damages in the specific case. All findings from the proceedings are binding on the claimants as parties to the model proceedings.
Once the model proceedings have become final, the claimants must assert their claims by filing a lawsuit. Only in the context of this action will it then be examined whether the filing of the claim has suspended the statute of limitations. In addition, the findings from the test case are not binding and must then be clarified in the course of the legal action.