Prof. Dr. Christofer Lenz and Dr. Henrike Schulte have successfully defended the state of Rhineland-Palatinate against attacks on the Local Government Financial Equalization Act, which was amended at the end of 2022.
OPPENLÄNDER Rechtsanwälte, represented by Prof. Dr. Christofer Lenz and Dr. Henrike Schulte, successfully defended two municipalities against constitutional challenges to the legal provisions governing municipal financial equalization in Rhineland-Palatinate. The Administrative Court of Koblenz dismissed the lawsuits and also refused to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court of Rhineland-Palatinate or the Federal Constitutional Court. Prof. Dr. Lenz and Dr. Schulte convinced the administrative judges in Koblenz that the state government and state parliament had fully complied with the requirements of the constitution and their concretization in a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Rhineland-Palatinate on December 16, 2020, when amending the State Financial Equalization Act in 2022.
OPPENLÄNDER conducted these proceedings on behalf of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate together with the responsible parties in the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Finance. Prof. Dr. Christofer Lenz and Dr. Henrike Schulte are conducting further proceedings on behalf of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, some of which are also pending before the Administrative Court in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, in which they are also defending the constitutionality of the State Financial Equalization Act against model lawsuits brought by counties, cities, and municipalities.
OPPENLÄNDER Rechtsanwälte regularly acts on behalf of state governments. Prof. Lenz and Dr. Maximilian Gerhold are conducting proceedings on behalf of another state government to defend municipal financial equalization before the state constitutional court there.
Press release from the Administrative Court of Koblenz (in German only)
