Producer liability

Producer liability in the broader sense is a sub-area of the law of obligations arising from tort according to § 823 ff. BGB , as well as the institutes of positive breach of contract (pVV) developed through legal training and the culpa in contrahendo ("cic", fault before contract conclusion), which meanwhile also in BGB are codified ( § 241 Abs. 2 BGB with § 280 Abs. 1 BGB). The liability exists initially towards each customer on the basis of contractual and tortious liability if the manufacturer's fault can be proven.

Producer liability must be distinguished from strict strict liability, the so-called " product liability " of the Product Liability Act .

Conventional fault liability

According to German legal tradition, liability for damages on a legal and contractual basis assumes that the manufacturer or distributor of products is at fault. The fault can result from violations of the organization of the production processes, if this has resulted in design errors, manufacturing errors, instruction errors and product monitoring errors on the part of the manufacturer. This can also i. S. d. § 831 BGB for the manufacturer from violations of the obligation to properly select, guide and monitor employees. However, the fault liability does not apply to recurring, but ultimately unavoidable, production errors (“ Monday production ”). In contrast, the distributor can regularly claim that he can trust a technically competent supplier (possibly also outside of Europe), at least as long as no serious problems arise.

The aggrieved party bears the burden of proof for all liability requirements; The manufacturer is only required to provide evidence for the correct selection, guidance and monitoring of the personnel as well as for the proper organization of its operational processes.

Cases from the highest court rulings

Conservation deficiency (float switch case )

Milupa judgment

Cupola case

Web links

Consumer rights - how do you differentiate between guarantee, warranty and product liability? (eRecht24)

Individual evidence

↑ cf. insofar the tightening of liability by BGHZ 67, 359 ( float switch case) for further feed damage; BGHZ 86, 256 (question of equality of material); BGHZ 80, 186 ff (199) (product monitoring obligations); Jens Petersen : Facilitation of evidence for health impairments through emissions and neighborly tolerance obligation , NJW 1998, 2099 to BGH NJW 1997, 2748.
^ Dieter Medicus : Civil law . 19th edition Carl Heymanns Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-452-24982-4 , § 25 II.

[1] . insofar the tightening of liability by BGHZ 67, 359 ( float switch case) for further feed damage; BGHZ 86, 256 (question of equality of material); BGHZ 80, 186 ff (199) (product monitoring obligations); Jens Petersen : Facilitation of evidence for health impairments through emissions and neighborly tolerance obligation , NJW 1998, 2099 to BGH NJW 1997, 2748.

[Medicus-2] Dieter Medicus : Civil law . 19th edition Carl Heymanns Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-452-24982-4 , § 25 II.