Was the truck purchased new directly or via a wholesale company – in both cases there is a claim to the refund

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In the second ruling on the Truck Cartel, BGH KZR 19/20, the Federal Court of Justice clarifies that the factual assumption also applies in the case of an indirect, third-party purchases.

Because the legally independent wholesalers were involved in the distribution in a systematic and continuous manner, the defendants are denied the right to negate liability on the basis of this fact.

The Federal Court of Justice took a somewhat different view in parallel (not trucks related) proceedings, but made a plaintiff-friendly modification on the basis of the practice in the Truck Cartel.

The actual presumption of price effects was also established because wholesalers cannot operate in the long term without margins that would absorb the effects of anti-competitive agreements.

The above is just one more reason of why the process is so slow and how many seemingly insignificant details need to be clarified before a compensation case of this scale can be resolved.

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