Business fee
The business fee is a term from the Lawyers' Remuneration Act .
Emergence
A business fee arises for legal representation in non- pending matters. The business fee arises for the operation of the business including the information and for the participation in the drafting of a contract.
height
The business fee is specified in the RVG remuneration list, for example under number 2300. This is a framework fee, it can be between 0.5 and 2.5 fees. The lawyer determines in individual cases and taking into account all circumstances (scope and difficulty of the legal work, the importance of the matter as well as income and financial circumstances) the specific amount of the fee at its reasonable discretion.
The legal practice has developed the so-called medium fee for calculating a specific fee in matters of average size , which can be determined by adding the lowest and the highest fee and halving the sum. For the business fee, the medium fee would therefore be a factor of 1.5. However, the legislature has stipulated that a fee of more than 1.3 times can only be requested if the activity was extensive or difficult. The VI. Senate of the BGH modified in the meantime. According to this, with a view to the tolerance limit of 20% to which he is entitled in accordance with § 14 RVG when exercising discretionary decisions in the context of setting framework fees, the lawyer should generally be entitled to demand 1.5 times the rate of the fee. (BGH VI ZR / 273/11 judgment of May 8, 2012). The 8th Senate of the BGH has already rejected this modification. He points out that this modification is contra legem due to the clearly conflicting wording of § 15 RVG and therefore the question of the tolerance limit according to § 14 RVG only arises when it is certain that the matter is particularly extensive within the meaning of § 15 RVG or was difficult (BGH VIII ZR / 323/11 judgment of July 10, 2012). Therefore, in matters of average difficulty and size, the business fee will typically be 1.3 times the rate. Only if and to the extent that the prerequisites are met in individual cases, this fee rate can increase up to 2.5 times.
Crediting
If the lawyer represents his client in the same matter both out of court and in court, the business fee remains in full. However, half of the business fee is offset against the procedural fee for the subsequent legal dispute, up to a maximum of 0.75 .
The opponent can invoke the set- off in the cost assessment procedure if the claim to the procedural or business fee is undisputed, an enforcement title exists against him because of one of these two fees or both fees are asserted against him in the same procedure (Section 15a RVG) . With the introduction of this paragraph on August 5, 2009, the previously controversial issue of crediting was regulated by law. According to established case law, § 15a also applies to proceedings before the introduction of § 15a RVG, as this provision only represents a clarification of the previous legal situation.
literature
- Thomas P. Streppel: "The crediting of the business fee on the procedural fee", MDR 2007, p. 929
- Thomas P. Streppel: "Consideration of the crediting of the business fee in the cost fixing procedure", MDR 2008, p. 421
Web links
- Online court and legal fees calculator
- Court and legal fees calculator for Windows, MacOS X and Linux
- Text of the Lawyers' Remuneration Act
- BGH judgment of March 7, 2007 on the crediting of the business fee to the procedural fee
- BGH judgment of January 22, 2008 on the crediting of the business fee to the procedural fee
- Reimbursement of business fees - often problematic in insurance law (PDF) via juratexte.de - this technical article highlights when the client can request reimbursement of the business fees incurred in disputes with their own insurer - and when not.
