The Regional Court of Stuttgart has dismissed the claim for compensation by B.H. Holding GmbH (parent company of Woolworth and Tedi) in the amount of over 32 million euros. The background to this was the officially ordered closure of non-food retail shops during the coronavirus lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.

The decision of the 7th Civil Chamber reads:

• The corona regulations were lawful and proportionate.
• There was no violation of the principle of equality, as the privileged treatment of individual businesses that sell products that are essential to daily life was justified by important public welfare interests. The fact that the privileged retail trade with a mixed assortment was also permitted to sell goods that do not serve basic needs was also justified by objective reasons. The state could assume that the sale of other products on a subordinate scale would not lead to an additional increase in the sources of infection already created by the opening of the food retail trade. At the same time, the country could assume that opening up the non-food retail sector would probably result in a significant increase in these sources of infection.

OPPENLÄNDER represented the State of Baden-Württemberg in the proceedings. The lawyers were: Dr Malte Weitner (Litigation & Arbitration), Dr Maximilian Stützel (Public Law, Constitutional Law) and Anton Müller (Litigation & Arbitration).

The judgement is not yet final.