Scandal in Lower Saxony: Farmer has to pay back 600,000 euros!

Scandal in Lower Saxony: Farmer has to pay back 600,000 euros!

In a remarkable case from Lower Saxony, a farmer has to dig deep into his pockets after being acquitted in a criminal trial. How stern.de reports, he was obliged by the Oldenburg Higher Regional Court to pay back around 600,000 euros plus interest to an insurance company. This civil trial was very different from the previous criminal trial, which took place in 2012, when the farmer was charged with fraud and arson. But the Oldenburg regional court acquitted him because the evidence was insufficient.

The Higher Regional Court now came to a different assessment after a “comprehensive assessment of the evidence”. The judges were convinced that the farmer commissioned a third party to set fire to his calf fattening stable and was actively involved in the preparations. This happened in 2009 when a fire broke out on the property of his wife, who was also a defendant. Prior to this incident, there had been several fires in the region where arson was suspected.

Insurance fraud and its consequences

Although the criminal justice system reached an acquittal, the higher regional court sees things very differently in the civil proceedings. In such proceedings, the court is not bound by the decisions of the criminal justice system. The repayment of 600,000 euros will result in this amount increasing “significantly” through interest. This makes the financial burden on the farmer enormous.

The case does not stand alone; it shines a spotlight on insurance practices. There were recent decisions from the Oldenburg Higher Regional Court that dealt with the question of data collection and observation by insurance companies. In another case relating to the issue of damage claims, the court found that a plaintiff was entitled to information about personal data collected by a detective agency during an observation. The insurer, who doubted the plaintiff's health limitations, was caught on the face, because data protection protects the rights of the injured in such cases versicherungswirtschaft-heute.de explained.

Data protection in focus

The judges of the 13th Civil Senate decided that when a claimant was observed, the personal data was processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation. This means that the data subject has the right to verify the lawfulness of this processing. The insurer's attempt to assert an interest in confidentiality was deemed insufficient because there was no overriding interest that would justify the release of the data. Of course, these findings may also have to be disclosed in further legal disputes. The OLG sees it as important that insured parties can gain insight into the information collected at any time, which increases fairness throughout the entire procedure haerlein.de summarizes.

Overall, the case of the farmer from Lower Saxony shows how complex the legal situation is in the area of ​​insurance and how important it is to protect the rights of the insured - both in criminal justice and in civil law. Observations from the past, legal procedures and court decisions could be of great importance to many of those affected.