Lenny Nero

So there were / are only three regular employees in the company ? This means that the Kündigungsschutzgesetz protecting you from regular termination does not apply - see sec.23 I sentence2 https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/kschg/BJNR004990951.html The employer still has to honor the contractual notice period, but collecting a severance payment might be challenging. Things are different in case there were more than five employees regularly.

FWIW and only anecdotal: Hermes is not a reliable alternative either. In January I placed an Amazon order with shipment to one of the Hermes parcel shops. Was notified that delivery was not possible due to the address not being correct (address was taken from their address details on amazon.de). And yes, it is the correct address: The shop owner confirmed to me that they are a Hermes parcel shop in good standing and that they have daily pickups and deliveries.  When I phoned Hermes they told me to get in touch with Amazon. Surprise: Amazon did not know what was going on either. But Amazon refunded my money without any issue.

Traffic offenders regularly receive a double whammy: The traffic fine - which could be collected on the spot - and the admin fee for suspending or revoking the license etc. In your case it wasn't a mere traffic offense: Driving under the influence (THC, some other illegal substance or alcohol) can qualify as criminal offense, so the 500 EUR did likely close the criminal proceedings. The other "fine" is actually the admin fee for the admin process of suspending your license.

In this scenario (two cars collide front to rear in the same lane at a traffic light) the court will assume that the driver coming from behind is at fault. The driver would have to provide evidence to the contrary (witness, expert testimony as to the cause of the damage etc.) to shatter that assumption.

I wondered about the law firm charging a percentage. That is highly unusual and only permitted in rare scenarios for German lawfirms. But then you named what you believe to be the author of the letter. This is not a law firm. This is an Association of companies or individuals who make a living by tracking heirs. They do sound legitimate, but their individual members may or may not. Their website is available in English:https://www.verbanddeutschererbenermittler.de/englisch/index.php   This funeral home  provides rather sound guidance on how to separate fraudsters from the real deal (German only):  https://www.wiese-bestattungen.de/ratgeber/erbenermittler/ Pretty sound advise re any similar scenario: - Never pay cash up front. They take their share from the inheritance (in case there really is such inheritance)  - a request to grant a Power of Attorney or to enter into a contract for their services may be completely legitimate. You can usually limit the scope of such documents to the minimum. - the funeral home suggest to contact the Association to separate members in good standing from rather dubious players.   I do wonder whether the letter really was sent by the Association. Are you certain that their logo wasn't just prominently placed on the letter ? Maybe the recipient misunderstood the letter  ? After all they did think it was sent by a law firm. And maybe it was, but the lawfirm definitely did have a different name.