For passengers, politicians and business partners, it was a nasty surprise when Air Berlin filed for bankruptcy in mid-August 2017. Hundreds of thousands of tourists were waiting to be flown home from vacation, the federal elections were due a month later - and Air Berlin had high liabilities in many companies. In the weeks following the bankruptcy, tens of thousands of creditors registered with the insolvency administrator, who had meanwhile been appointed by the Berlin-Charlottenburg district court.

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Insolvency Administrator Lucas Flöther (Archive)

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For Lucas Flöther it was a mammoth task, for which his law office and more than a hundred employees were rewarded handsome: The dissolution of the airline was reimbursed with more than 26 million euros.

On the contrary, resistance comes from a believer. He has filed for SPIEGEL information at the Berlin district court Charlottenburg complaint against the fee for insolvency administrator Lucas Flöther. From the view of the complainant, which is represented by the Duesseldorfer law firm Lambrecht, the set minimum remuneration is "legally defective". He has doubts that there were 700,000 creditors on the closing date for the assertion of claims - a figure taken as the basis for the calculation of the high compensation amount. So it says in the complaint filed in mid-March.

Flöther denies any irregularities in his remuneration: "The calculation of the remuneration was based on applicable law." He had even calculated less than would have been possible. He continued to explain to SPIEGEL: "If the district court of Berlin, which has to decide on the appeal against this compensation, came to a different result than the bankruptcy court, I would accept this decision."

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