Judicial credit
Justice credit in Germany is an informal name for the delay in the performance used in business and legal community, a mature payment claim by a debtor who for this purpose a case brought against him trial deported .
Industry and craft
In the construction industry in particular , amounts due are not paid on time, but the outcome of legal proceedings is awaited. During this legal dispute, in which the due date is disputed by alleged defects, and which can be delayed further by procedural measures, the debtor can use his money for other purposes.
Often judicial loans also try to force small and medium-sized craftsmen and companies to make poor comparisons in order to lower the price further in the end. Above all, their low equity ratio , liquidity bottlenecks and economic inexperience are used.
In particular in the law on contracts for work and services, the legal regulations offer possibilities to delay payment. In the case of a contract for work, the client generally has the right to pay the wages (e.g. for a house) only after acceptance . However, acceptance can be refused if there are defects in the work. If the client claims there are defects, the entrepreneur does not initially receive any usable payment title until it has been clarified whether there are actually defects .
Approaches to combat
The legislature endeavors to combat this abuse of justice or at least to alleviate the consequences. The attempt to give an entrepreneur the opportunity to force acceptance through a certificate of completion from an expert (former § 641a BGB ) was given up due to unsuccessfulness. Considerations for the introduction of new civil procedural procedures to speed things up, such as adjudication , are still at the beginning.
literature
- Gregor Heiland: New ways in the fight against the “judicial credit” according to the BGH decisions on § 648a BGB . In: Construction Law , Vol. 35 (2004), Issue 8, pp. 1209-1214, ISSN 0340-7489
