A court date before the Munich Higher Regional Court on March 31, which is important for the legal processing of the Wirecard scandal, will not take place.

"The Senate has canceled the appointment," said a spokesman for the court on Wednesday at the request of the FAZ.

As justification, reference was made to aspects of procedural economy, also with regard to whether a test case for investors will come about.

The oral hearing that has now been canceled should have dealt with the question of whether Wirecard victims could assert claims against the EY auditing firm, which was responsible for the former Dax company that went bankrupt in 2020.

Mark Fehr

Editor in Business.

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Initially, the courts had dismissed claims by Wirecard victims against EY, but in December 2021 investors were able to draw new hope.

At the time, the Munich Higher Regional Court ruled that an oral hearing and a more extensive hearing of evidence were necessary in order to clarify, for example, whether the auditors in the Wirecard case had breached their professional duties and whether possible breaches of duty could be a reason for claims for damages.

900 individual lawsuits by Wirecard investors against EY

As the Munich I Regional Court announced last week, 900 lawsuits from Wirecard investors have now been filed against the EY audit and the number is growing every day.

However, the situation has now changed in that the Higher Regional Court of Munich I also approved a test case for investors in the Wirecard case in mid-March.

Before the model case can start, a model plaintiff must first be determined.

The test case is now getting in the way of the individual plaintiffs, which is likely to be an unpleasant surprise for many.

The lawyer Marc Liebscher from the Protection Association of Investors (SdK) finds this problematic.

"The test case is not a good development for investors because it is not clear how long it will take and whether the claims for damages against the auditor EY are covered by it," said Liebscher at the request of the FAZ. According to Liebscher, the oral hearing would have been an opportunity to address crucial legal issues to clarify the responsibility of the auditors in the Wirecard scandal.

Nothing will come of it now.

Instead, investors first have to wait for the test case to get moving.

According to the assessment of lawyer Liebscher, investors will still have to sue due to the uncertainty of the model case in order to prevent their claims from becoming time-barred.

Behind the model lawsuit is the law firm Tilp, which according to its own statements represents several thousand Wirecard investors and has gained a lot of experience with complex model proceedings, for example in the emissions scandal in the automotive industry.