Decision in final partial proceedings over reclamation suits
Munich, June 27, 2007 – Passing sentence today the Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf ruled once again in favor of telegate. In the third and final partial proceeding over the reclamation of excessively charged costs for subscriber data, the Court adjudicated the former monopolist in its second instance ruling to repay a total of 30.52 million Euro plus interest during pendency of legal action since the action has been brought in December 2004. The suit had been filed against Deutsche Telekom by telegate’s 100% subsidiary, datagate GmbH, (Court ref. No. VI-2 U 9/05 [Kart]), and covered reclamation claims for the years 2000 to 2004. Appeal was granted.
In all, the three rulings awarded the directory assistance provider telegate a sum of 86,81 million Euro plus interest during pendency of legal action and thus in total approx. 100 million Euro. This is the highest compensation ever awarded by a German Court in a suit against Deutsche Telekom and the highest ever adjudicated in the German telecommunication market at all. Already in May 2007 the Court had ruled in the first partial proceeding, ‘telegate vs. Deutsche Telekom’ (Court Ref. No. VI-2 U 10/05 [Kart]) in favor of telegate, awarding it with reclamation claims over 52.04 million Euro plus interest during the pendency of the action over the years 1997 to 2000. Lastly Deutsche Telekom has been sentenced last week in a second partial proceeding to a repayment of 4,25 million Euro plus interest during pendency of legal action. This ruling was made according to the standards of the Higher Federal Court.
Parallel to the reclamation cases, an action to recover damages from Deutsche Telekom is still pending. In this case, telegate is asserting claims totaling around 86 million Euro. As a consequence of the excessive data cost payments, the company suffered a clear competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis Deutsche Telekom, especially in the early years after market opening in Germany, for which, in telegate’s legal opinion, Deutsche Telekom is liable. Proceedings in this case will be heard in the first instance before the Regional Court Cologne on July 20, 2007.
Claudia Strixner
telegate AG
Head of Public Relations
Fraunhofer Str. 12a -
82152 München-Martinsried
Tel.: 089/ 8954-1188
Fax: 089/ 8954-1189
e-mail: presse@telegate.com
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