Is Mercedes grasping at straws? Motion of bias against the presiding judge.

Published December 6, 2021

Update 2: Defeat for Mercedes. Motions to bias against the presiding judge rejected.

Update 1: According to information from the Dortmund District Court, no decision has yet been made on the bias applications as of 01 April 2022.

The Dortmund District Court was supposed to deliver its verdict against truck manufacturer Daimler in January 2022 in the pending truck cartel case. It looks like it will be delayed now.

The reason is that the defendant has filed a motion of bias against the judge hearing the case.

According to our information, this does not only apply to one specific case, but to all cases involving Daimler.

The bias motion must first be decided by the competent court. Our experts believe that they will find that there is no bias. Daimler’s next move is probably also predictable: they will appeal and the case will then go to the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. There, too, the same outcome is expected: no bias.

So why the hassle, many might ask.

The time delay caused by this extra “detour” is expected to last 6-8 months.

The longer it takes for successful truck cartel cases to receive European press coverage, the more cases will be time-barred in the meantime.

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Recent developments

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Ask our experts!