Filing a motion for declaratory judgment

I've pretty much decided to file a Feststellungsklage regarding my petty flatmate squabble, to avoid a self-help-justice re-run.

My one hesitation is that it's highly embarrassing to bother the court with this kind of blarney ... especially as an American, since we have such a rep for rabid litigiousness.

Anyone have experience with courts on this kind of soft aspect?

Er, wouldn't it be easier just to find somewhere else to live?

Then she wouldn't have anything to cleverly blog about

To be honest, the fact that you have filed something legal for a petty squabble sort of proves the stereotype true, don't you think?

Au contraire. When it comes to neighbour squabbles Krauts are much quicker than Yanks to dash off legal complaints and run off to some fucking Amt to file them. Voice of experience.

woof.

Maybe you will get a song written about you.

Perhaps.

However, the legal action does nothing to disprove the American stereotype.

Case in point: I've never heard of legal insurance being available in America. I have a German friend in Munich who lived in the US for a couple of years and was appalled to learn she couldn't purchase a normal Rechtschutz policy. In the end, she talked some insurance company into creating a special product just for her.

I don't think anyone of any nationality should turn to the courts for a personal dispute except as a last resort. If you do need the courts, though, that's what they're there for.

Life, the biggest show on earth.

cinzia, check out arag.com. They offer it, although it may differ somewhat from what they offer in Europe

But German small claims don't make the U.S. news (or German news b/c it's 'normal' here) the way U.S. courts' awards of punitive damages do. Would an information-challenged American ask Germans how many small claims they've filed in the past year? No, s/he'd ask whether Hitler was involved in the Kennedy assassination.


Did she ever need it? I don't see why I'd need it here, aside from coverage for labor cases. In the past year or so, I've gotten burnt out of trying to settle things 'reasonably' as worked in the states. So I've gone way OTT and have started handing almost any conflict involving money off to one lawyer or another. Fees seem very reasonable - surprisingly, they save me money, not to mention nerves. And a lot of Germans don't seem to take things seriously, or believe that I'm taking them seriously, until a lawyer's involved. Legal fee insurance would just be more paperwork.


I'm with you on that one. In this case, I've reasons (not up for discussion) for not moving.

When this baloney started, it would have been nearly impossible for me to have moved, yet my flatmate was brutal. Now that I've read up on the law, official clarity has become a goal. It seems bizarre that a country that prides itself on being "social" has such a slap-happy approach to regulating areas of basic human needs.

Plus, it's the first time I've handled a conflict by keeping my mouth shut and my cards close to my chest rather than a) skulking away, or b) pounding the table with my fist and shouting why I'm right, thus coaching the other party on how to really get me.

Not wishing to read your entire blog, would you say your "petty flatmate squabble" refers to the fact that they sometimes take your milk out of the fridge, or is there something else? I don't think a disagreement over diary product use-by dates is something that really requires the legal profession to become involved in.

@STB - LOL! No, that wouldn't bother me so much.

It's not all that thrilling. I wish I knew what the real issue was. Legally, the issue is that I'm sub-letting, and the main renter has given me two non-effective letters of notice, the first at a time when I was barely breathing.

Frankly, I don't know why the main renter decided to hate me. In more or less chronological order,
Early on, there was weird dynamic with the Hausmeister-family, esp. between my ex and the Hausmeister
Top-Model began to fear I'd move out overnight and leave her with unpaid rent.
Then there was my named offense and her written reprimand.
I quit pretending to do everything she said.
The slow worm discussion, still a mystery to me, infuriated her.

You're comparing grains of sand with mountains? When's the last time you ever fucking heard about an American small claims case? The US has fucking small claims courts, too, and I should know having been there too many times for problems under $3,000. The huge sums awarded in certain high-profile cases are the exception which is usually why the cases become high-profile, and the amounts awarded are usually knocked down to more reasonable levels on appeal, something that never makes it to the front page the way the initial case did.

At least in the US the average citizen has the ability to take an 800 lb. gorilla to court to try and get some (perceived) justice. Since this subject always brings up the McDonaldo's hot coffee case, I'll point out that the wrong lid was used, the coffee was too hot, the woman suffered major burns, McD's refused to pay for the woman's medical costs, McD's had covered others' medical bills for the exact same problems previously, and an appeals court knocked the award down so far the woman was still left in the hole financially.

woof.

Uh, no the wrong lid was not used and coffee is made with boiling water and boiling water is always hot, but can never be too hot unless in a pressurized state. McDonald's should never have been liable for stupid people and this stupid person was deemed to be 20% at fault by the jury (stupid jury!). http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm