Menold Bezler successfully defends Verband Region Stuttgart in action for additional costs in "Stuttgart 21" project

The Stuttgart Administrative Court today dismissed the four lawsuits filed by Deutsche Bahn against the project partners of the "Stuttgart 21" infrastructure project - the state of Baden-Württemberg, the state capital of Stuttgart, the Verband Region Stuttgart and Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH - for participation in the additional costs. Menold Bezler was successful on behalf of the Verband Region Stuttgart (Ref.: 13 K 9542/16).

In 2009, Deutsche Bahn AG and two railway-owned companies (railway infrastructure companies) concluded a financing agreement with the defendant project partners for the "Stuttgart 21" project. In this agreement, the basic costs of approx. 3.1 billion euros forecast at the time were distributed among the contracting parties and it was also stipulated how additional costs up to an amount of approx. 1.5 billion euros were to be borne by the contracting parties. However, the agreement does not contain any explicit distribution rules for cost increases in excess of this amount. In this case, the so-called "speech clause" merely provides for the railway infrastructure companies and the state of Baden-Württemberg to enter into talks. From the outset, the Verband Region Stuttgart was exclusively involved in the basic costs of Stuttgart 21 with a fixed amount.

The railway companies have now sued to have the project partners contribute to further cost increases for the "Stuttgart 21" project up to an amount of approx. 7.3 billion euros. The 13th Chamber of the Administrative Court dismissed the claims against all project partners in their entirety. The court denied both a contractual claim, in particular on the basis of the speech clause, and a statutory claim for the binding distribution of all additional costs. The project partners do not have to make any further financial contributions to the additional costs of the "Stuttgart 21" project.

The judgement is not yet legally binding. The Administrative Court did not allow the appeal. According to the presiding judge Kern, although a great deal of money was at stake, the case concerned normal rules of interpretation. The court therefore did not consider the case to be of fundamental importance.

Menold Bezler has been advising Verband Region Stuttgart on these complex proceedings since 2016.