Cowbells in court: "Five cows, four bells, over six weeks"

Regina Killer can ever talk in rage. For years, the farmer's wife from the Upper Bavarian Holzkirchen is dragged to court by a neighboring couple, who bothers by the bells of their cows. "I hope that eventually comes to an end and calm," she says.

After all, this Thursday, the court was right: your neighbors must endure the ringing of the cowbells. But that does not mean that the case is done with it. Previously, courts had already judged so.

Initially, the husband had complained to the neighbors, and in 2015 agreed to a settlement before the district court Miesbach, which should reduce the bell noise. However, the compromise did not have the desired effect from the point of view of the plaintiff, which is why he went to court in Munich II in 2017 - and lost.

Killer had been celebrated by the process visitors as a champion of customs. A renunciation of the bells was for them at no time in question. It's not just about her and her cowbells. "If things continue like this, Bavaria is finished," the farmer said with applause.

First the man complains, then his wife

It is quite possible that the hearty words impressed the district court at that time. In the end, in December 2017, the judges justified their verdict in favor of Killer simply by stating that the settlement was binding on the parties to the dispute before the Miesbach court.

However, the couple did not leave it at that. After the husband, an entrepreneur who owns the exclusive estate, his wife recently complained. On this Thursday, the district court has now had to decide again - and again it ruled against the noise-plagued neighbors.

The wife has no claim, the court justified the dismissal of the action. She is not the owner of the property. Although this formal aspect was decisive for the judgment. But the judges also left no doubt as to how high they weight the importance of Bavarian customs compared to the need for rest of the neighbors. The court expressed "massive reservations" to the applicant's arguments, which spoke of a "location unusualness" of grazing. In fact, in the foothills of the Alps, cows with bells stand and graze on a green meadow.

In addition, the court doubted that it had actually given "a substantial impairment". It was five cows with four bells over six weeks and eight cows with six bells over four and a half weeks gone, listed Judge Christiane Karrasch. The plaintiff had meticulously kept a record of it.

She also stated that the bells were still barking at night, they could not keep an eye out. Not only had she sued the killers, who run a family business with about three dozen cows, but also the community that leased the one-acre pasture. It was also a thorn in the eye of the woman that manure was spread in the pasture.

"You have to accept that when you move to the country."

Killer was "highly satisfied with the outcome of the trial". She is concerned with the preservation of local traditions. "That's what drives me," says Killer. It should also be concluded that "agriculture is presented so poorly". After all, it is something quite normal when it also smells on a farm or maybe even heard cowbells. "You have to accept that when you move to the country."

Not everyone sees it that way. In fact, there have been repeated complaints about cowbells in southern Bavaria in recent years; Of these, various cases ended up in court. For example in Bad Reichenhall. There ended a lawsuit with a settlement that significantly limited the wearing of the bells. In 2015 there was a - for rural areas - veritable mass demonstration against a court-imposed bells ban. 150 people moved loudly through the popular with tourists town.

In Rottach-Egern in 2017, the local council dealt with a complaint about loud cow bells. Again and again there are in the Free State also clashes between long-established and newcomers over crowing roosters and loud bells - not only in cows, but also in churches.

Killer hopes after the stage victory, that they now soon spend less time with legal arguments. "As a farmer, I have enough to do with the care of the animals in the yard."

But after an end to the bell feud, it does not look like it at the moment. The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Munich soon has to deal with the appointment of the husband. And for the current ruling in the proceedings of the wife announced the lawyer Peter Hartherz in the afternoon, he wanted to appeal and if necessary pull to the Federal Court.

For the time being, the comparison is valid: According to this, cows with bells should only graze in the part of the pasture at least 20 meters away. The entrepreneur and his wife are not satisfied with the distance. Killer, on the other hand, hopes that the bells of her cows will continue to ring in the future.