For anglos from places without residence registration requirements, the German system feels a bit big brotherish. I still can't wrap even a minute section of my shriveled brain around the idea that the default in Germany is for one's registered address to be open to anyone who requests it.
Filing for a non-disclosure flag requires justifying your wish in writing, and only gives you the right to be asked to explain yourself again should someone request your information. A clerk then decides whether to protect or release your registered information. However, even this doesn't protect your information from government agencies.
On my to-look-up list: the actual regulations of all this in German law.
Because it seems that non-government public establishments such as churches and church-related charitable organizations have a bit of a loophole.
Which is just fabulous if you'd requested the non-disclosure to keep the church off your back or you wanted to protect your privacy from someone closely involved with a hospice organization where you once volunteered.
Will fill in details once I've done my homework on what the regulations really say.
Maybe this is just another privacy issue I should chalk up to the one-world government thing my grandmother used to talk about. After all, I'm in the EU, which is satanic according to Nana: the flag has a circle of stars.
Not in a mood to post obviously hilarious German law at the moment.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Not so funny Friday
Thursday, November 29, 2007
for German bloggers: absolute must-read
I'm presuming any anglo readers are paranoid libertarian home-school-alums like me who know where to find this 411 in English, then choose not to act on it b/c Jesus is coming back to get us and the data violation mess is, like global warming, part of God's Will for the End Times. Who are we to stand in the way of all that, yo!
So this is a hint to my one German reader: I know too much about you, Google knows more - and my mother is praying in tongues for your salvation.
Praise!
Conversion?
The cleaning lady's here, and Top-Model is home today for some reason.
Now Top-Mod is quatsching to my superstar cleaning lady in Ukrainian or Russian. I'm sure Frau Cleaning Genius, a former pharmacist who's a tough judge of character, is going to be won over by whatever the dickens Model is preaching.
Break over. Next break when Frau Doesn't-Suffer-Fools-Lightly reports.
Hope he didn't lose the straw!
Here's a can of WD-40 gone to dangerous waste.
Turn the sound off before starting this one. As my kid brother Ezekiel says, “Our vocabulary is sufficiently expansive that it’s not really necessary for us to use that kind of language.”
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Judge not ... yet
The court has a contract with a private mail service provider. This means that it takes five days for post to reach UnGroom, who lives in another district, which is served by a different private mail service provider. Deutsche Post gets mail there in a day.
So UnGroom didn't receive word until today that the judge postponed Monday's hearing until January.
Ack. So much for the hurry to get the Replik submitted in time.
I'd like to think this postponement effectively yawns at T-M's counter-claim, in which she requested my eviction on 31 December. I'd like to think the judge is sending us his biggest wink and wave.
The civil procedure book dashes my would-like-to-thinks: when a counterclaim is filed, the early first hearing (275 ZPO) is typically waived in favor of handling everything in a main hearing. Am feeling a bit annoyed that I had to look this up myself. Oh, well - Musielak's commentary on the ZPO makes for danged cozy evenings.
Also feeling a bit annoyed at having to wait six weeks for my prepaid court and lawyer fees to be refunded. Ha - it's one thing to "know" one will win, quite another to have a decision from the judge. Annoyance in this case is plain batty.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Replik
UnGroom picked me up at the airport yesterday, less out of nostalgia and more in order for me to review the Replik (our response to Model's counterclaim) in the car so he could submit it in time for consideration in the hearing this coming Monday.
Things were a little tense, b/c the chickaroozie UG is seeing was apparently really on edge about him meeting me. He had that weird energy going on where he's all ebullient and eager to report to Mommlly how finally, finally a woman realizes he's perfekt, and she might almost have kissed him and so on, but Mommlly is being a b!tch and says she's happy for him but doesn't want to hear details.
Anyway, I was surprised how quickly I was able to wake up and concentrate. This Replik is solid work. And such a waste of my skill, not to mention the strategic stuff I picked up a few lifetimes ago as a paralegal in a decent international firm.
I don't regret not having become a lawyer: the chances I'd have allowed myself to really get into it back then are near zero. Lousy law exams get you jobs dealing with people like me who have roommate issues. Decent exams get you bribed by ex-wives to take on insanely inane cases. Still, what feels really off here is carrying the bulk of burden and being satisfied with so little credit. Maybe I'm starting to wake up. To what, we'll see.
===================================
RA Dr. UnGroomus Genervtle · Villenstr. 72 · 54024 Fastweitgnugweg
Amtsgericht Bad Haartag
Frisoeranlage 129
54321 Bad Haartag
Martyr ./. Model
36 C 297 / 07
In dem Rechtsstreit
Martyr ./. Model
nehme ich Bezug auf die Klageerwiderung und auf die Widerklage vom 19.11.2007 und kündige für die mündliche Verhandlung die folgenden Anträge an:
1. Der Rechtsstreit wird hinsichtlich der Feststellungsklage vom 26.10.2007 für erledigt erklärt.
2. Die Widerklage wird abgewiesen.
3. Die Beklagte und Widerklägerin trägt die Kosten des Rechtsstreits.
Zur Klageerwiderung und zur Widerklage nehme ich wie folgt Stellung:
1. Der Vortrag der Beklagten hinsichtlich der Einrichtungsgegenstände in dem Zimmer der Klägerin ist zum Teil unzutreffend.
a) Zwar ist es zutreffend, dass sich in dem Zimmer der Klägerin noch ein Teppich und zwei Tische vom Vermieter der Beklagten befinden. In dem Haus besteht aber keine Möglichkeit, nicht benötigte Möbel zu verstauen. Die Beklagte war über jedes Möbelstück dankbar, das die Klägerin in ihr Zimmer nahm und nicht im Wohnzimmer verbleiben musste.
Zu Vertragsbeginn teilte die Beklagte der Klägerin mit, dass in dem Haus die Möglichkeit bestehe, Sachen zu lagern. Dies hat sich jedoch als unzutreffend herausgestellt, so dass die Klägerin für 25 € / Monat bei einer weiteren Mieterin Lagerraum anmieten musste.
b) Badezimmer, WC, Küche und Wohnzimmer gehören nicht zum Wohnraum der Klägerin. Dies ergibt sich bereits aus dem Untermietvertrag (Anlage K 1). Auch die Beklagte trägt in der Klageerwiderung vor, die Parteien haben einen schriftlichen Untermietvertrag
geschlossen. In ihrem Schreiben vom 22.07.2007 machte die Beklagte zudem deutlich, dass private
sind.
Im Wohnzimmer befinden sich ein Bücherregal mit privaten Büchern sowie Bildern und Pflanzen der Beklagten. Sie nutzt das Wohnzimmer teilweise als Abstellraum, was sie der Klägerin untersagt.
c) Die Klägerin weiß nicht, wann die Beklagte das Zimmer der Klägerin besichtigt hat. Jedenfalls ist der Beklagten entgangen, dass sich in dem Zimmer an Einrichtungsgegenständen des weiteren drei Tische der Klägerin, zwei Lampen, ein Hocker, eine weitere Sitzgelegenheit und eine Liege der Klägerin befinden.
d) In dem Mietvertrag ist entgegen den Ausführungen der Beklagten nicht vermerkt, dass das Zimmer mit Einrichtungsgegenständen möbliert ist. In § 1 Ziffer 1.2 (Anlage K 1) ist lediglich aufgeführt, dass ein Kleiderschrank und ein Nachttisch mitvermietet werden. Hinsichtlich des Kleiderschranks stellte die Beklagte der Klägerin anheim, ihn außerhalb des Zimmers zu stellen.
2. In der Klageerwiderung führt die Beklagte aus, es sei „vollkommen überzogen, wegen derartiger Dinge (Putzen, Aufräumen, etc.) gleich einen Mediator zu beauftragen.“ Auch wenn die Frage einer Mediation nicht Streitgegenstand ist, sei die Vorlage des Flyers der Stadt Bad Haartag – Vermittlungsstelle für Nachbarschaftskonflikte – gestattet.
Als mediationsrelevante Themen wird Rasenmäherlärm, Sandkasten als Hundeklo und ein nicht geputztes Treppenhaus genannt. Die offenen Punkte zwischen den Parteien passen zu 100 % in das Mediationsprofil der Vermittlungsstelle für Nachbarschaftskonflikte der Stadt Bad Haartag.
Die Klägerin hatte sich bereit erklärt, die Kosten einer privaten Mediation zu übernehmen, sofern eine private Mediation gegenüber der kostenfreien der Stadt Bad Haartag von der Beklagten bevorzugt wird. Dieser Rechtstreit hätte sich nach einer ernsthaften Mediation erübrigt.
3. Das belästigende Verhalten und Beleidigungen der Beklagten, des Hausmeisters und Beleidigungen des Prozessbevollmächtigten der Beklagten gegenüber der Klägerin sind hier nicht Streitgegenstand. Deshalb wird an dieser Stelle nicht weiter darauf eingegangen.
4. Wir bestreiten, dass die Klägerin ihren mietvertraglichen Pflichten nicht nachgekommen ist. Zu keinem Zeitpunkt hat sie sich mit dem von der Beklagten einseitig aufgestellten Putzplan einverstanden erklärt.
1. § 549 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BGB ist nicht einschlägig, denn weder hat die Beklagte als Vermieterin die Pflicht, den Wohnraum bzw. das Zimmer der Klägerin mit Einrichtungsgegenständen auszustatten, noch überwiegen die Einrichtungsgegenstände von der Beklagten in dem Wohnraum der Klägerin.
a) Die Beklagte ist nicht verpflichtet, den Wohnraum der Klägerin mit Einrichtungsgegenständen auszustatten. Einhellige Ansicht in der Kommentarliteratur ist, dass bei § 549 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BGB auf die vom Vermieter nach dem Mietvertrag übernommenen Verpflichtung zur Ausstattung des Wohnraum abzustellen ist.
Bamberger/Roth-Ehlert, Kommentar zum BGB, 2. Aufl. 2007, § 549 Rn. 14
Gramlich, Mietrecht, 9. Aufl. 2003, § 549.2
MünchKomm-Schilling, 4. Aufl. 2004, § 549 Rn. 17
Palandt-Weidenkaff, BGB, 66. Aufl. 2007, § 549 Rn. 17
Staudinger-Weitemeyer, BGB, September 2006, § 549 Rn. 28, 29
Es reicht nicht aus, dass Einrichtungsgegenstände – wie hier – aus Platzgründen nicht anderweitig untergebracht werden können.
Barthelmess, Wohnraumkündigungsschutzgesetz – Miethöhegesetz, 5. Aufl. 1995, § 564b Rn. 37
Ebenso wenig reicht es aus, wenn der Vermieter aus reiner Gefälligkeit einige Möbel zur Verfügung stellt.
Emmerich/Sonnenschein, Handkommentar §§ 535 bis 580a des Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuches, 8. Aufl. 2003, § 549 R. 12
Die Miete eines Leerzimmers fällt nicht deshalb unter § 549 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BGB, weil der Mieter im Rahmen einer Wohngemeinschaft ein möbliertes Zimmer mitbenutzen darf.
Emmerich/Sonnenschein, Handkommentar §§ 535 bis 580a des Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuches, 8. Aufl. 2003, § 549 Rn. 14
Staudinger-Weitemeyer, BGB, September 2006, § 549 Rn. 30
Im Untermietvertrag (Anlage K 1) sind lediglich ein Kleiderschrank und ein Nachttisch erwähnt. Hinsichtlich des Kleiderschranks ist die Beklagte keine Verpflichtung gegenüber der Klägerin eingegangen. Vielmehr hat sich die Klägerin bereit erklärt, aus Platzgründen den Kleiderschrank in ihrem Zimmer zu belassen. Hinsichtlich der weiteren Gegenstände des Eigentümers des Hauses – Teppich, zwei Tische – besteht ebenfalls keine Pflicht zur Vermietung.
b) Soweit es auf die Frage überhaupt ankommt, ist bei der Beurteilung, ob die Einrichtungsgegenstände der Klägerin als Mieterin oder der Beklagten als Vermieterin „überwiegen“, entgegen der Meinung der Beklagtenseite lediglich auf die Einrichtungsgegenstände im Zimmer der Klägerin abzustellen.
Dies ergibt sich bereits aus dem Wortlaut des § 549 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BGB. Darin wird unterschieden zwischen Wohnung des Vermieters und Wohnraum. Zur Wohnung zählen das Badezimmer, das WC, die Küche und das Wohnzimmer. Zum Wohnraum zählt lediglich das Zimmer der Klägerin. Eine andere Beurteilung würde den Sinn und Zweck des § 549 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BGB völlig aushöhlen.
c) Für das Vorliegen der tatsächlichen Voraussetzungen des § 549 Abs. 2 BGB trägt der Vermieter die Beweislast.
Bamberger/Roth-Ehlert, Kommentar zum BGB, 2. Aufl. 2007, § 549 Rn. 32
d) Die Beklagtenseite wertet § 549 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BGB wohl genauso. Nach Ablauf der ersten Kündigungsfrist zum 31.08.2007 (Anlage K 2) hat sie keine Räumungsklage erhoben.
2. Mit der auf der Grundlage des § 259 ZPO erhobenen Räumungsklage ist das rechtliche Interesse der Klägerin an der Feststellungsklage nach Klageerhebung weggefallen. Zur Vermeidung der Kostenpflicht wird in der mündlichen Verhandlung die Hauptsache für erledigt erklärt werden, § 91a ZPO.
Die Klägerin ist nach wie vor vergleichsbereit und bietet zur Beendigung des Rechtsstreits folgenden Vergleich an:
1. Die Parteien sind sich darüber einig, dass das Mietverhältnis zum 31.05.2008 endet.
2. Die Beklagte verpflichtet sich, hinsichtlich der offenen Fragen im Zusammenhang mit der Wohngemeinschaft konstruktiv an einer Mediation der Stadt Bad Haartag teilzunehmen. Sofern diese nicht zum Erfolg führt, ist die Beklagte verpflichtet, an einer privaten Mediation bei Kostenteilung teilzunehmen.
3. Die Beklagte verpflichtet sich, gegenüber der Klägerin ehrverletzende und wertende Äußerungen zu unterlassen.
4. Die Beklagte verpflichtet sich, weitere Einschränkungen durch Gebote und Verbote zu unterlassen.
5. Die Klägerin ist berechtigt und verpflichtet, weiterhin zweimal pro Monat die gemeinschaftlich genutzten Räume durch eine private Reinigungsfirma reinigen zu lassen.
6. Die Beklagte und Widerklägerin trägt die gesamten Kosten des Rechtsstreits.
Dr. U. Genervtle zur Anstrengendlingen
Rechtsanwalt
Eine beglaubigte und eine einfache Abschrift anbei
little tip for my loyal readers
If you're hauling up the Jersey Turnpike.
Hoping to reach the city by dark.
And, accepting this won't happen, you stop for a leg stretch and coffee. You're particularly impressed with how securely the plastic lid fit on the thick styrofoam cup, and with how nifty the reclosable sipper flap has gotten. Hurray for plastic-extrusion toolbuilders!
50 kilometers north (or 30 miles, whichever comes first), strands of red tail-lights festively draped for miles ahead, you decide you'd like a slurp of your BK brew.
I highly recommend one thing:
Inspect the lid with your fingertips and maybe hold it on while you sip.
Here's why: a crotch full of coffee, nestled in grey pinstriped trousers, can give you something close to a sunburn, even half an hour after that joe was served. Not sure which smells worse: wool flannel, viscose and a panty-liner all soaked in coffee, or seared skin.
If you don't find that suggestion practical, then at least take this one:
Choose a holiday weekend on which to dump coffee in your lap. On holidays, state troopers have bigger worries than finding out why you're parked in the breakdown lane, waving your hiney out the passenger side of your car.
Oh, and a public service announcement to 2% of the cars that flew by while I was freeze-drying my bum : one of your headlights is out.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Freebie counterclaim
Last night was Tennis Pro Bono's deadline for submitting his rebuttal to our motion.
Just checked e-mail: UnGroom sent a scan of TPB's brief. The language and formatting is a mess. Other than to say that we were full of baloney and our motion ueberhaupt nicht nachvollziehbar, he ignores all the points in our motion. His "Verteidigungsmittel" involves references to my famous Unzumutbarkeit.
Here's where he gets spiffy:
TBP included a counter suit requesting an eviction order.
On the one hand, this was an elegant move. By filing for the eviction order in the form of a counter-claim, he avoided court costs he'd incur if he eventually filed directly for an eviction order.
The other hand is shoving wads of cash into the pockets of his dear colleague, Ungroom: his counter suit locked in our inflated claim value.
I'd pre-paid court fees for a claim value of a year's rent. There are strong arguments for our claim value being only 3 months' rent. Calling it a year was one part expensive paranoia medicine, and two parts feeling sure I'd win and wanting to maximize UnGroom's earnings.
The claim value for an eviction order IS 12 months rent. So Tennis Pro Bono effectively quadrupled his client's risk. Top-Model's now looking at total suit costs of approximately ten times what the court fee for an eviction order would have run her. Nice going, T e n n i s .
Either Tennis Pro Bono is a sloppy lawyer, or he was thumbing his nose at us.
I'm so tempted to dig up commentaries that argue that claim values are cumulative.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
New : Feed o' the Week
Looking at my own blog is boring as heck - I've =heard= all these dull tales as they happened.
So I'm adding "Feed of the Week" in the upper right corner, so that when I have to look at the blog for some reason, there'll be something half-way interesting for me to read.
This week's feed: AutoblogGreen.
Nominate your favorite blogs for future featured feeds!
Craig's list - what the warnings don't tell you
Decided to place a ride-share ad on Craig's list for my early-Thanksgiving-morning drive. It feels environmentally irresponsible to take a car over that distance with just one person, and the right company could make the trip more pleasant. Might also keep me from high-beaming cars who're for whatever reason blocking 4 lanes by puttering along shoulder-to-shoulder.
So I braved Craig's list. Which everyone knows is for meeting people who want you to consume their entrails on film. There's a ride-share section for people who want to drive somewhere together before or while engaging in illicit activities.
Checked e-mail just now, figured I might have a response.
Yep, one. Going to the same town where I'm headed, check.
A woman's name, check. Very Jewish name, check. With a telephone number, check. So I pick up the phone to see whether it's really a woman.
We chat. She has an annoying voice, and seems to have me on speaker phone.
As we're wrapping up, she says of course she'll split gas and tolls, and when I say it's more about principle for me, I'm not going to nickel and dime it, she asks why I'm doing this. I explain the environmental thing, then tell her about a lecture I heard this week. By an arch conservative America-likes-global-warming guy who says that the U.S. could realistically reduce harmful emissions by 20% in the next 3 years.
She's heard of him. Yeah, he went to her alma mater. Suddenly I realize I've heard her voice before.
She's got a very Jewish name, but in her e-mail she'd mentioned a relative's church event. We had this discussion 14 years ago. The messianic thing. I was making salad at the time, had a baseball cap on backwards.
I ask where she went to church when she lived in a city where I used to live.
Oh, she's 40, she's older than I am, we wouldn't have known each other. (?!) I ask again, she tells me. Of course, it's the same place Scruffy and I met.
So I say, yeah well I used to live in this one church-affiliated house. And she was a bodybuilder, right? And left the city when she got a job managing a hotel on the shore?
Fuh-reak. She was on staff with the Christianaziganization that took over the house where I lived in non-frozen-grinning peace during college. The transition period was not pretty; I fled to France. Suddenly she will not shut up about the religious stuff. She's inviting me to a Bible study in the middle of Thanksgiving day. I tell her I'm going there to see my great aunt. I don't tell her I'm no longer a Christian.
Un-check un-check un-check un-check un-check un-check.
Now I have to find a way to back out of taking her for the ride.
Anyone who's been to Disney will know what earworm will gnaw through my brain as I fall asleep now.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Gleichbehandlungsgrundsatz
I'm attending a "praxis-orientierte" seminar at a local university on a non-credit basis, alongside students taking it pass/fail for "Schwerpunkt" (~concentration) credit.
When I signed up for the seminar, I'd thought it focused on advanced issues in a specialized area; it doesn't. (Aside whine: where do Germans, like Italians, get off feeling academically and culturally superior to all Americans?)
Am going through with it anyway, for a few reasons. I haven't done this kind of coursework in German, so it's good for my vocabulary. There are some differences in method, most of which I've figured out on the job, but I would prefer to have a standard overview. The instructors are employed full-time in their fields; their companies participate for recruiting advantages, so they're open to maintaining contact.
Since I'll miss this week's workshop (work then Thx), I e-mailed next week's instructor, requesting the homework assignment (due the week after next). I'd imagined I could copy the relevant background info to take with me and thus get the assignment in on time. Which would require some heroics given my schedule, but I committed to the course, am doing it for me, and am using it as a chance to pick the instructors' brains.
The students don't seem to care so much - for last week's assignment, they all copied their homework directly out of the same formula book - and got full credit. The jokers who all turned in the straight copied-off work got 12s. (Out of 18.) The guy who tweaked one calculation got a 14.
No answer to my e-mail, so I called his secretary yesterday. She said it should be no problem ...
... then e-mailed that he'd said giving it to me in advance would be a violation of the Gleichbehandlungsgrundsatz.
from Genugsutun Ohnesonebloedsinn
to molly breyer at yahoo dot com,
date Nov 16, 2007 3:20 PM
subject Sorry
Sehr geehrte Frau Martyr,
leider kann ich Ihnen die Unterlagen (Hausarbeit) nicht zukommen
lassen, da dies laut Herrn Dr. Stotterer, gegen den
Gleichbehandlungsgrundsatz verstoßen würde.
Wir werden Ihnen die Hausarbeit am kommenden Donnerstag zuleiten.
Beste Grüße
Genugsutun Ohnesonebloedsinn
Sekretärin
Company GmbH
Pforzheimer Str.160
D-76275 Ettlingen
Telefon: +49 (0)7243/501-0
Fax: +49 (0)7243/501-100
I called her to clarify that I'm NOT a student, NOT doing it for credit, and that I'm only requesting a favor b/c my travel situation puts me AT A DISADVANTAGE.
Nope, that wouldn't be fair to the others.
This is apparently a fundamental aspect of the German uni-system. As another expat posted on ToyTown,
your prof is preventing any of his real students from receiving the homework assignment up front. You can swear yourself black in the face that you will not pass it on, he has to protect his ass, as any student failing the course who hears that you received preferential treatment can sue the prof.
A friend just mailed me this :
"Der allgemeine Gleichheitssatz gebietet, alle Menschen vor dem Gesetz gleich zu behandeln (BVerfGE 74, 9 <24>), und verpflichtet die Grundrechtsadressaten, wesentlich Gleiches gleich und wesentlich Ungleiches entsprechend seiner Verschiedenheit und Eigenart ungleich zu behandeln (vgl. bereits BVerfGE 1, 14 <52> [BVerfG 23.10.1951 - 2 BvG 1/51]; stRspr)."
Gericht: BVerfG
Datum: 20.09.2007
Aktenzeichen: 2 BvR 855/06
Friend claims that the fundamental principle includes the requirement to treat un-like / un-equal persons accordingly. But since absence from a class isn't a formal disability, bringing this up would probably get me laughed at (even more).
I =get= that I'd chronologically have more time. I =get= that there's a chance I'd pass the assignment on to a student, thus giving her a genuinely unfair advantage. Really, I don't want to wimper. When I've taken bona fide classes for credit, I've turned in assignments from the road and just dealt with the extra pressure. None of those classes required use of extra reference works, though.
This bothers me so much in part since it's such a flaky class, since the students aren't really doing work, and since I've actually been working in relevant fields for a long time. It's not as though I even remotely need to cheat.
Another reason it bothers me is that the instructor for this section is so fuh-reak-ing privileged. There is NO WAY he can claim his classmates had material, academic, networking and moral support anywhere near equal to what he received from his family. In college in the US, I accepted the privilege gap. I felt privileged to be at the school at all.
My sense of honor prevented me from seeking even a minute fraction of the academic support my classmates did. In retrospect, that was a big mistake. That brassy track star who dominated chem review sessions and always got the Greek guy from St. Albans to do her homework? The pinched prom queen who demanded extra tutoring from all the econ TFs? After college, they went on to big-name grad schools. After college, I started working full time. Them's the strokes, folks.
Nobody said it was supposed to be fair. Nobody preached equality, because we knew it didn't and shouldn't exist. Being in the game was good enough.
In Germany, supposedly egalitarian, I just don't get this moralizing condescension about fairness.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Alien advocate
There's plenty of discussion in Germany about immigration laws to deal with illegal aliens. Less attention is given to German mistreatment of its citizens who are mistreated (and then abandoned) by aliens.
Thankfully, there's help.
The German Federal Bar's Registry of Lawyers lists the lawyer as being a Dipl.-Ing. Hmm. So maybe he's hoping for some technical invention tips out of all of this.
Männerpolitik
This is really, really good. I've long argued that Germany is incredibly Maennerfeindlich, hostile to men. Generally, people either laugh at me, or try to explain that I don't know what I just said.
Longer description here. I beg to differ with the argument that German women have really made steady progress, but perhaps I've just seen a backlash that's part of every stage in the course of advancement.
Mr. Ferner, you're a breath of fresh air. Perhaps of interest: Heather Hofmeister's work.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Why we Americans need guns
This guy, however, apparently thought that Rick O'Shay is just a country band, a thermoformed hockey goal blocker or a Stan Lynde cartoon ...
Remember what our firearm safety instructor taught us back in kindergarten: "Always be sure of your target — and of what is beyond it."
A woman might have tried WD-40 first. On the lug nuts, NOT on the gun. Oh dear, maybe that was the problem. Gosh golly, I think I might have to make Thursday WD-40 day. Will start that next week.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
am I a bad lawyer-shopper?
Why couldn't I find a lawyer like this when I was shopping for someone to handle my petty rental spat? The lawyers I interviewed advised me to adhere to Model's Putz-regimen, already! or to get the Army to pay for my housing.
Am I too ugly to get a lawyer to just do the bloody work without judging me?
Don't answer that.
I don't regret having UnGroom, who's never done Mietrecht, take the case. My end of the deal (to pull all the commentaries, rulings etc and to revise and format any court briefs), though, has been a PITA and hugely inefficient.
Der blöder Fall weckt aber meine Interesse für für Rechtswissenschaften über meinen IP-Tellerrand hinaus. Früher nickte ich nur, als UnGroom seine ganze Juristerei erzählte. "Einstweilig" klang für mich wie "eins-zwei-Licht", wie ein Startschuss. Passte doch zur Hektik. That's great, honey - alles sehr dramatisch, you're such a hero! Look, it's almost eight, why don't you watch Tagesschau,* and I'll fetch you a Pils. God, those were the days.
Since I've turned into Hubert Blank's biggest groupie, I'm now in the market for a lawyer to handle the restraining order and to get that little episode where police had to peel me off his doorstep dismissed.
*Thanks to Martina for correcting my spelling.
Monday, November 12, 2007
We've got mail
UnGroom called. We've got mail.
It took 3 extra work-days for him to receive the notice corresponding to the suit papers with which Top-Mod was served. The court sends all its mail through a private contractor, which gives mail for UnGroom's town to another private contractor for delivery. Royal PITA.
The judge set a "Früher erster Termin" § 275 ZPO (~early initial hearing), which § 272 ZPO gives him the right to do.
Further, the judge wrote a blurb about presuming that a "Gütliche Streitbeilegung" (~peaceful settlement) as found in § 278 ZPO won't be attainable.
Top-Model was given 14 days in which to file "Verteidigungsmittel" (~defending papers) with the court.
Am very curious as to how they'll respond. Intolerability wouldn't make any legal sense, but I'm not sure they can keep themselves from going there. There are a couple of minority opinion commentaries they could use. Finding these would mean actual work for Tennis Pro Bono, presuming he's continuing with the case. Or Model could do the work. I could point her in the general direction of all the commentaries I've been perusing. (And I do mean perusing, in the traditional dictionary sense of the word.)
It's a strange feeling to be pretty sure that I could write a better Klageerwiderung (~statement of defense) to my own freaking case than the opposing counsel will do.
Does this call for shoes or for tea?
lesbian Monday
Thought-full conversation with an intelligent acquaintance about articles here, then, I don't remember the connection, but said woman confesses she has a fantasy about me.
A little degeneration is good for everyone, and this doesn't have the slimey feel that oozes when a man says "fantasy," so I bite.
Also, Du bist in New York. Du sitzt in dieser Bar, wo Du immer gleich hingehst.
~So you're in New York. Sitting in that bar where you always go first.
You know that's not a lesbian bar, right? I go there for lunch to get my burger fix.
Aber Lesben dürfen 'rein. Also eine Frau kommt hinein und setzt sich neben Dich hin.
~But lesbians are allowed in there. So a woman comes in and sits down next to you.
Okay ...
Sie winkt nur, und Joe der Barman bringt ihr ihren Lieblingsdrink: Champagner mit einer Olive.
~She motions to Joe, who brings her favorite drink: champagne with an olive.
Wait - is there an olive in her champagne?
Na gut, die Oliven sind dieses Mal in einer kleinen Schale auf der Seite.
~Oh all right, this time the olives are on the side, in a small bowl.
Okay ... what kind of Sekt is she drinking?
Einen billigen Importsekt.
~A cheap imported sparkling wine.
Oh. My. Goodness. So your hot fantasy for me involves a woman drinking cheap bubbly. Um, what is she wearing?
Sie ist modisch gekleidet.
~She's dressed stylishly.
What does "modisch" mean - skinny pants with one of those maternity-looking tops?
Ja, genau!
~Yes, exactly!
Great, so she's either 15 or an inappropriately-garbed hag who doesn't realize she's aged.
Nein nein - sie hat einen Rock an. Knielang. Aus edlem Stoff.
~No, no - she's got a skirt on. Knee-length. Of fine fabric.
Edel, okay. What kind of fabric is it?
Edel!
~Fine
Right, but what fiber, aus welchen Fasern? (~from what fiber)
Ja, aus Fasern!
~Yes - from fibers~
Oh dear. Okay. Carry on.
Sie nimmt einen tiefen Schluck, und dann erst merkt sie, dass sie angekommen ist.
~She drinks deeply, and only then realizes where she is.
Good lord, she's an alcoholic!
Dann nimmt sie eine Olive mit einem Zahnstocher,
~Then she takes an olive, using a toothpick,
I really don't think this bar has toothpicks!
Für sie schon. Joe hat sie mit den Oliven hingestellt.
~For her, they do! Joe set them next to the olives.
Oh dear heavens.
Sie nimmt eine Olive auf einen Zahnstocher und nimmt ihn in den Mund. Wie sie dies macht ist ein kleines bisschen provokativ, weil sie die Olive zwischen den Lippen einen Augenblick länger hält, ihr Mund bleibt dabei länger offen, als man es erwarten würde.
~She spears an olive with a toothpick and puts it in her mouth, provocatively. The olive rests between her lips, her mouth open, a bit longer than you'd expect.
Heaven help us all.
Maybe there's redemption. What kind of olives is she eating?
Auch das ist eine Provokation. Sie isst diese kleinen, grünen Oliven, die mit rotem Zeug gef -
~The olives are provocative, too. The small, green kind, filled with red -
Noooooooooooo! Those are the cheapest, nastiest olives possible. Do not tell me she's eating green pimento-stuffed olives with her cheap not-champagne.
(.....)
Um, okay, maybe she's really cool. Das ist dermassen schräg, maybe she's got a fabulous sense of irony.
Sie öffnet ihre Handtasche und Du merkst, die Zigaretten sind etwas dünner, etwas länger, als man dies von Zigaretten erwarten würde.
~She opens her handbag and takes out ultra-long, ultra-slim cigarettes.
Then she's about to get hauled out by the police or something - you can't smoke in bars in New York. Does she know she's in New York? Where does she think she is?
Ach so. Ja, ich wollte gerade sagen, Joe weist sie dann zu recht. "This isn't San Francisco, and it isn't Cap Code," sagt er.
~Right, I was just going to say, Joe scolds her.
Cap was? Cap Code? Cape Cod? Do you mean Cape Cod? Oh my goodness. Cape Cod. That's right, you took the ferry to Provincetown once, didn't you? Is Cape Cod a gay smoker's island, in your mind?
Sie dreht sich zu Dir hin, und sagt, HALLO!
~She turns to you and says, "HALLO!"
It went downhill from there - and, sadly, brought up a prejudice against transexuals I hadn't realized I had. Happy for them, support them, just don't view them as relationship material. There's some ugly fear in there. I'd like to buy out cheap by protesting the fantasy woman was off to a very bad start before she opened her mouth and her voice was deeper than expected.
Perhaps I should wonder what inspired said acqaintance to said fantasy, whether it's more about me or about her. But the shock of my own aversion stands in the foreground. Clearly, nobody's bias-free. It's just a bit discouraging that the discovery and efforts to right one's own irrational perspectives seems never to find an end.
In any case: if I were a gay man, I'd definitely have the flower arranging gene.
Rohrschach
Anastasia posted that Useless Dicta posted results of a blogger-blurb 'quiz' that spits out career advice based on your choice of one image. So I lemminged on over, and learned:
You Should Be in the Military |
 You are driven, focused, and an extremely hard worker. And while you can be ruthless in getting what you want, you also have a compassionate side. You are able to balance your own desires with the needs of others. You'll do almost anything to get the job done, but you're not willing to step on anyone's toes. You do best when you: - Are working with others - Are in a fast paced environment You would also be a good CEO or school principal. |
Second-choice pic got me:
You Should Be a Mechanic |
 You are logical, calm, and detail oriented. You're rational when things are chaotic, and for you, reason always prevails. And while you are guided by logic, you aren't a slave to it. You're flexible when it counts. You are always open to being wrong. You do best when you: - Work with your hands - Can use tools, machines, or equipment You would also be a good architect or carpenter. |
Third pick:
You Should Be a Manager |
 You're very organized, motivated, and methodical. Fair and objective, you can see all sides of a conflict. You are a good mediator. You are task oriented. You do well with deadlines and schedules. And while you can be a task master at times, you're good at managing people and listening to their input. You do best when you: - Must have attention to detail - Are in charge of people You would also be a good accountant or personal assistant. |
Now, can't I just have 36"-square silk twill scarves in these? Make the first one in deep, rich blues for me, though.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Vioxx for $4.85 Billion
Merck Agreement to Resolve U.S. VIOXX® Product Liability Lawsuits
$4.85 Billion Payment
Link is to Merck's press site, which contains links to settlement documents.
Guess I was lucky the stuff didn't work at all for me. The doctor who rx'd it wasn't convinced it was worth trying, and rolled his eyes when I handed him printouts of Merck's hype. He was right, but a girl in chronic pain will try to believe a jingle. My insurance at the time covered it, but the pharmacist said that quite a few insurers wouldn't, b/c Vioxx hadn't been proven more effective than had comparable pain meds. All the drama, and then either it didn't inhibitit my cyclooxygenase-2, or COX-2 isn't involved in synthesizing prostaglandins in my body. Or the pain was all in my head.
The pain now seems to be in Merck's wallet.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Harry Suitor
I wanted to do a quick post on crazy private litigation in Germany, maybe start a little Friday tradition. Somewhere I'd heard that a judge had sued the state for reimbursement of his costs for some sort of hairloss preventive. Living in Bad Haartag, I thought that hair suits would be a lovely topic for a baptismal entry on German Gerichtsstreitkultur.
Google, however, is no more my friend than is my own hair. The search engine spit out more cases of plaintifs suing for hirs- ... dang, is that spelled hirsuit or hirsute? relief than I really wanted to know Germans were capable of filing.
The decision I was looking for turned up under VGH Mannheim Haarausfall beim MannUrt. v. 10.3.2005 – 4 S 2222/03, NVwZ-RR 2005, Heft 7. Oh dear Reh, there's an interview about it available on cassette. If you don't read German, be very glad. If you do, do NOT click on that link and do NOT read the other titles. Pray to powers to prevent me ordering that cassette ...
This one's okay only from my view as a masculist. A male government employee got the highest court to rule that if the state is willing to pay for medically-prescribed wigs for women with hair loss, that it has to provide it for men over 30 with hair loss as well. It can't discriminate against him just b/c hair loss is less acceptable and less common in women. You readers don't know whether I have hair or not (oh, unless you read my comments above as something nobody would lie about), so imagine that most of my hair has fallen out, and that I work for the state. And just assume that I'm a woman, for the sake of the story. Why should you, the taxpayer, spring for my ersatz-locks?
My apologies. I can't write a real hair-entry today. As consolation, here are the lyrics to a song I love, by Christine Lavin: Bald-Headed Men.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
You've got mail
Got home late yesterday. Top-Model yanked her door open and jumped into the hallway when she heard me come in, but I was on the phone. Guess I made a gasping noise or something, b/c the other person on the line asked what was wrong. Just that there was a strong smell of unpleasant body odor, I said. Would never have said that to T-M's face and didn't intend it for her, but I'm guessing she heard it b/c she didn't bang on my door once I'd ended my call.
Today I'm home, a cold grey rain is pounding yellow leaves from the tree outside my street window. The office building next door has reorganized its space, and the large conference room has been converted to shared offices. Through my side window, I now sit shoulder to shoulder with a guy in a blue shirt, no tie. (You know where I'm going with this - trying to figure out if he's wearing an undershirt.) He's balding, with a certainly much-treasured tuft of hair holding lone fortress on the top of his head. The cards seem to say I'll be spending more time in the office and on-site. Or I could move my desk.
A big yellow envelope from the court, addressed to Top-Model, is now in our mailbox.
I'm guessing it contains her notification of my motion for declaratory judgement in our ridiculous rent squabble.
Although Tennis Pro Bono represented Top-Mod in the out-of-court dealings, I asked Ungroom to have Top-Model served directly. It feels fair to give her the chance to consult a competent lawyer who has no personal interest in the case. On the one hand, it's probably scary to find official court mail; on the other, giving Tennis Pro Bono the chance to sit on it for a few days then fast-talk around it would add another layer of tar to her trap. So she's got mail.
Good thing she likes yellow.
§ 271 ZPO Zustellung der Klageschrift
Why does searching Google images for "Klagezustellung" turn up this?
Free association:
Yellow --> Sunshine --> Jesus doesn't want me for a sunbeam --> Any wonder?
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Wannesinn
People complain that doctors no longer make housecalls. Some lawyers, however, do come to wherever you've been taken into custody ... or even to where you might risk being arrested. A Berlin lawyer whose name invites multiple entendre converted a police wagon into a lawyer lorry and got the tax authority to rate it as a passenger vehicle.
The inviting consultation area should be the envy of most lawyers. If Mr. Hoenig installs an espresso machine in his juristic jallopy, I bet he'll be permitted to do his own Coffee & Law events.
Monday, November 5, 2007
start practicing NOW
Reposting, now that Hallowe'en is over ... the canned cranberry sauce Thanksgiving tradition represents everything I love about my country.
U.S. Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving without jellied cranberry sauce out of the can.
Football gets all the publicity, but only 46% of U.S. households watch the game after dinner. Pre-meal, 87% of U.S. households play Getting the Stuff Outta the Can. 9% use a melon baller or just remove the sauce from the can with another instrument. 1.7% (most from northern New England states bordering Quebec) place the can of sauce in a bain-marie. Remaining households leave the can unopened, giving up on the traditional dinner entirely upon determination that the turkey is inevitable.
If your kitchen is one of those in which jellied cranberry sauce is removed from the can intact, it's recommended that you purchase a few cans and begin practicing now.
Players who master that first step may advance to recipes and technical preparation.
Other players advance in a different direction:
Public educators encourage skills acquisition.
As do private schools, albeit resulting in a different skill set.
Then there's the home-school methodology.
Some of America's youth start off with the wrong values around the stuff and will probably never learn the true meaning of jellied cranberry sauce.
Others learn late and try to share their insight.
Finally, Canadians living in the U.S. bring the sport to its most athletic expression. Their Thanksgiving is over, so they can focus on the technical aspects of our holiday. Strangely, our neighbors to the north have a Constitution which makes no mention at all of jellied cranberry sauce.
The videos and commentary relevant to those who grew up in industrial kitchens and handled jellied cranberry sauce delivered by trailer truck in #10 cans are in a separate, password-protected entry.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Chuck is a drag queen
You're probably already familiar with Dooce, the momblog of the recovering Mormon southern woman who got fired for blogging and should have her own interior-design-makeovers-for-fundamentalist-homeschooling-litterfull-I-mean-quiverfull-families.
I would lurve to see what she'd do with all those chalk talks and inspirational prints, and character award plaques. 
One thing that might be holding up approval for her show's timeslot by the denim jumper brigade, other than that they don't have televisions, is that her dog Chuck is a drag queen.
You've heard about Ron Paul, right? Well, Chuck is Ru Paul's running mate. Apparently someone complained that Dooce takes too many pix of her dog. What they don't know is that that Chuck is the one taking most of the pictures. I don't have the link, but word has it he's got his own transy porn blog for the campaign. Someone told me he cameo'd on The L Word.
For the latest Chuck-smut, scroll past the pictures of the Wunderkid in a chicken suit. (To see that, go straight to the video.)
Missive 6
Pipapostr. 123
54321 Bad Haartag
November 2, 2007
Dear Top-Model,
of your letter dated 16. September 2007
I hereby confirm receipt on 25. September 2007 of your letter dated 16. September 2007.
May I suggest that you educate yourself on generally acceptable behavior and specifically permitted times of business? Understanding the difference between municipally mandated quiet hours (in which no loud construction is permitted) and official business hours (in which one can contact someone to deliver a letter in person) would be very useful for you.
For every delivery of a letter, you have the Hausmeister in the room as your witness. That leads me to believe that your lawyer hasn't informed you of further, possibly more elegant methods of proving delivery and receipt of a letter. Your method of proof has a certain entertainment value, which I generally appreciate. But after six days of intensive seminars, a congress and then a day full of meetings, I rank entertainment lower than I do peace, quiet and sleep.
Perhaps you waited six days anxiously and then plunged into irrational harrassment, simply because you didn't know that you could have placed the letter under my door on the 16th - naturally, with witnesses of your choice. If your lawyer had informed you of various methods of proving delivery, he would have given you the tools to achieve your goals without damage to your dignity.
I hereby confirm receipt of your e-mail of 27. October 2007.
You claim in that e-mail to have given me your letter dated 16. September 2007 on the 16th of September. In fact, you gave it to me on the 25th.
In my mail, I only you if you meant your letter dated 16. September seriously, as opposed to your letter dated 03. August. At no time have I asked you for legal advice. As far as I know, you neither studied law, nor have you passed bar exams by other means.
That's why I avoid stating my opinion on legal matters, at all costs. Nor do I request advice of lawyers I haven't hired and paid, nor of other persons.
Finally, I request once more that you inform your client about her duty to clarify the Hausmeister's duties. I won't describe all details of the neglect here. Suffice it to say, there's no way one could describe the conditions of the property as acceptable or the grounds as well-groomed.
In our rental contract, we agreed on shared use of common spaces such as the living room. „Bei der Benutzung haben die Vertragsparteien gegenseitig auf die Bedürfnisse des jeweils anderen Rücksicht zu nehmen.“ In practice, you arrange and govern use of the living room without regard to our preferences. You even wanted to dictate use of the kitchen.
The result is a living room with free of any esthetic redeeming value. The storage corner you arranged resembles the side porch of a run-down home in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood in the south of my country. I highly encourage you to refamiliarize yourself with our rental contract and to work toward an arrangement acceptable to all parties. In cooperating to arrange shared use of common spaces, you might develop a taste for community living.
Should you fail to resolve the above issues by
you leave me no choice but to formally catalog all items needing improvement, warn you in writing, and legally reduce my rent payment accordingly.
Sincerely,
Top-Martyr
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Klage
RA Dr. U. Genervtle · Villenstr. 72 · 54024 Fastweitgnug
Amtsgericht Bad Haartag
Frisoeranlage 129
54321 Bad Haartag
Fastweitgnug, den 26.10.2007
Martyr ./. Model
K l a g e
der Frau Top Martyr,
Pipapostr. 123, 54321 Bad Haartag
Prozessbevollmächtigter:
Rechtsanwalt Dr. UnGroomus Genervtle, Villenstr. 72, 54024 Fastweitgnug
gegen
Frau Top Model,
Pipapostr. 123, 54321 Bad Haartag
- Beklagte
wegen Feststellung der Unwirksamkeit einer Wohnraumkündigung
Streitwert: 12 x 542,00 € = 6.504,00 €
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Namens und mit Vollmacht der Klägerin erhebe ich Klage und werde beantragen:
- Es wird festgestellt, dass die Kündigung der Beklagten vom 16.09.2007 zum 31.12.2007 unwirksam ist und das Untermietverhältnis zwischen den Parteien gemäß Untermietvertrag vom 12.02.2006 über das in der Wohnung in der Pipapostr. 123, 54321 Bad Haartag im 2. Stock gelegene Zimmer über den 31.12.2007 hinaus fortbesteht.
- Die Beklagte trägt die Kosten des Rechtsstreits.
- Sofern die Voraussetzungen des § 307 Satz 1 ZPO oder des § 331 Abs. 3 ZPO vorliegen, beantrage ich den Erlass eines Anerkenntnis- bzw. eines Versäumnisurteils.
Begründung:
I. Zusammenfassung
1. Am 12.02.2006 schlossen die Parteien einen Untermietvertrag über ein Zimmer in der Pipapostr. 123 in 54321 Bad Haartag. Mit Schreiben vom 03.08.2007 sprach die Beklagte eine erste unwirksame Kündigung aus. In der Folgezeit übte sie massiven Druck auf die Klägerin aus, indem sie ständig einen Übergabetermin vereinbaren wollte. Nach Ablauf des 31.08.2007 hat die Beklagte die Klägerin wiederholt beleidigt und der Klägerin mit einer Räumungsklage gedroht. Letztendlich ließ die Beklagte die erste vermeintliche Kündigung „fallen“ und sprach mit Schreiben vom 16.09.2007 eine zweite Kündigung zum 31.12.2007 aus.
2. Die Klägerin hat ein berechtigtes Interesse gemäß § 256 Abs. 1 ZPO auf Feststellung, dass das Mietverhältnis nicht zum 31.12.2007 endet. Aus der Erfahrung nach dem ersten Schreiben vom 03.08.2007 ist zu erwarten, dass die Beklagte erneut versuchen wird, durch Ausüben von Druck auf der Grundlage einer unwirksamen Kündigung die Klägerin zum Auszug zu bewegen.
3. Entgegen der Ansicht der Klägerin schlossen die Parteien keinen Mietvertrag über ein möbliertes Zimmer. Das Zimmer der Klägerin ist überwiegend mit ihren eigenen Einrichtungsgegenständen ausgestattet. § 549 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BGB als Ausnahme vom Mieterschutz findet deshalb keine Anwendung. Vielmehr gilt die Kündigungsfrist von sechs Monaten nach § 573c Abs. 2 i.V.m. Abs. 1 BGB.
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II. Sachverhalt
1. Mit Untermietvertrag vom 12.02.2006 mietete die Klägerin von der Beklagten ein Zimmer im Anwesen Pipapostr. 123 in 54321 Bad Haartag in der im zweiten Stock gelegenen Wohnung. An Einrichtungsgegenständen werden laut § 1 Ziffer 1.2 des Untermietvertrags lediglich ein Kleiderschrank und ein Nachttisch mitvermietet. Die überwiegenden Einrichtungsgegenstände gehören der Klägerin. Hinsichtlich der Mietzeit und der Kündigung vereinbarten die Parteien in § 4 des Untermietvertrags folgendes:
„4.1 Das Untermietverhältnis beginnt am 01.03.2006 und läuft auf unbestimmte Zeit.
4.2 Die Kündigungsfrist beträgt grundsätzlich 3 Monate, wird jedoch vom Untermieter oder Untervermieter in gegenseitiger Absprache ein passender Nachmieter gefunden, kann diese Frist verkürzt werden bzw. ganz wegfallen. Ansonsten richtet sich das Kündigungsrecht des Untermieters und des Untervermieters nach den gesetzlichen Vorschriften.
4.3 Die Kündigung hat in jedem Fall schriftlich zu erfolgen.“
Beweis: Vorlage des Untermietvertrags vom 12.02.2006 im Original
Die von der Klägerin zu entrichtende monatliche Miete beträgt nach § 2 Ziffer 2.1 des Untermietvertrags (Anlage K 1) 542,00 €.
2. Mit Schreiben vom 03.08.2007
sprach die Beklagte gegenüber der Klägerin erstmalig eine Kündigung aus. Sie stützte die Kündigung unzutreffenderweise auf § 573c Abs. 3 BGB und forderte die Klägerin zum 31.08.2007 zur Räumung auf.
Beweis: Vorlage des Schreibens vom 03.08.2007 im Original
Mit Schreiben vom 13.08.2007
Beweis: Vorlage des Schreibens vom 14.08.2007 im Original
3. Diese Zimmerbesichtigung am 15.04.2007 fand statt.
Außerdem fragte die Beklagte die Klägerin in der Folgezeit ständig und hartnäckig, wann sie ausziehen werde und drängte auf einen Übergabetermin. Am 01.09.2007 drohte die Beklagte der Klägerin mit einer Räumungsklage. Die Klägerin bewohnt das Zimmer über den 31.08.2007 hinaus bis zum heutigen Tage; eine Räumungsklage reichte die Beklagte nicht ein.
4. Mit Schreiben vom 16.09.2007, das am 25.09.2007 übergeben wurde,
Beweis: Vorlage des Schreibens vom 16.09.2007 im Original
Das Angebot der Klägerin zum Abschluss einer Aufhebungsvereinbarung zum 31.01.2007 lehnte die Beklagte in dem Schreiben ohne nähere Begründung ab. Für die Kündigungsfrist zum 31.08.2007 beruft sich die Beklagte auf den Untermietvertrag vom 12.02.2006 (Anlage K 1).
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III. Rechtliche Würdigung
1. Das Schreiben der Beklagten vom 16.09.2007 (Anlage K 4) beendet das Untermietverhältnis nicht zum 31.12.2007. Weder sind die genannten Vorschriften einschlägig, noch ist die Kündigungsfrist zutreffend.
a) Das (Unter-) Mietverhältnis zwischen den Parteien kann nur mit einer sechsmonatigen Kündigungsfrist nach § 573a Abs. 2 i.V.m. Abs. 1 BGB gekündigt werden. Zur Berechnung der Kündigungsfrist ist zunächst von der Frist des § 573c Abs. 1 Satz 1 BGB auszugehen. Diese Frist verlängert sich dann um drei Monate.
Palandt-Weidenkaff, BGB, 66. Aufl. 2007, § 573a BGB Rn. 11
Da das Mietverhältnis noch keine fünf Jahre dauert, beträgt die Frist nach § 573c Abs. 1 Satz 1 BGB – etwas vereinfacht – drei Monate. Nach § 573a Abs. 2 i.V.m. Abs. 1 Satz 2 BGB verlängert sich diese Frist um drei Monate, also auf sechs Monate.
b) Entgegen der Ansicht der Beklagten findet § 549 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BGB, wonach bestimmter Wohnraum vom Mieterschutz ausgenommen wird, vorliegend keine Anwendung. Dazu wäre es erforderlich, dass die Beklagte als Vermieterin den Wohnraum „überwiegend mit Einrichtungsgegenständen auszustatten hat“. Es muss also eine vertragliche Verpflichtung der Vermieterin bestehen, den überwiegenden Wohnraum auszustatten. Die überwiegenden Einrichtungsgegenstände in dem Zimmer stammen jedoch von der Klägerin. Wie sich aus § 1 des Untermietvertrags vom 12.02.2006 (Anlage K 1) ergibt, ist die Beklagte eher berechtigt als verpflichtet, das Zimmer mit einem Kleiderschrank und einem Nachtisch zu möblieren.
c) Auch auf die in § 4 Nr. 4.2 des Untermietvertrags vom 12.02.2006 (Anlage K 1) genannte Kündigungsfrist von drei Monaten kann sich die Beklagte nicht berufen. Nach § 573c Abs. 4 BGB ist eine zum Nachteil der Mieterin von Absatz 1 und 2 abweichende Vereinbarung unwirksam. Die gesetzliche Kündigungsfrist beträgt sechs Monate. Die vereinbarte dreimonatige Kündigungsfrist weicht zum Nachteil der Klägerin von der gesetzlichen ab.
d) Eine Umdeutung des Schreibens vom 16.09.2007 (Anlage K 4) in eine Kündigung zum 31.03.2008 ist nicht möglich. Dazu müsste das o.g. Schreiben nach § 140 BGB den Erfordernisse einer Kündigung nach § 573a Abs. 2 i.V.m. Abs. 1 BGB entsprechen. Dies ist jedoch nicht der Fall, da nach § 573c Abs. 3 BGB als besondere Ausprägung des Mieterschutzes angegeben werden muss, dass sich die Kündigung auf § 573a Abs. 2 BGB stützt.
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2. Die Klägerin hat ein Interesse nach § 256 Abs. 1 ZPO auf Feststellung, dass das Untermietverhältnis zwischen den Parteien als Rechtsverhältnis gemäß § 256 Abs. 1 ZPO über den 31.12.2007 hinaus fortbesteht. Eine Klage auf Feststellung, dass eine Kündigung unwirksam ist, ist zulässig.
vgl. Baumbach/Lauterbach/Albers/Hartmann-Hartmann, Zivilprozessordnung, 64. Aufl. 2006, § 256 ZPO Rn. 75 „Kündigung“
Das Feststellungsinteresse ergibt sich in dem vorliegenden Rechtsstreit auch daraus, dass die Beklagte bereits mit Schreiben vom 03.08.2007 (Anlage K 2) eine Kündigung aussprach. Im Anschluss an dieses Schreiben forderte sie von der Klägerin Besichtigungstermine ein und übte unter Bezugnahme auf das o.g. Schreiben massiven Druck auf die Klägerin aus, dass die Klägerin zum 31.08.2007 auszieht. Schließlich drängte die Beklagte wiederholt darauf, einen Übergabetermin zu vereinbaren. Am 01.09.2007 drohte die Beklagte an, ihr Verlangen mit einer Räumungsklage durchzusetzen.
Aus dem Schreiben vom 16.09.2007 (Anlage K 4) ergibt sich ohne nähere Begründung, dass die Beklagte offensichtlich nicht mehr an den 31.08.2007 als Ende des Untermietverhältnisses festhält.
Die Klägerin hat ein berechtigtes Interesse an der Feststellung, dass das Untermietverhältnis mit der Beklagten über den 31.12.2007 hinaus fortbesteht, damit sie nicht noch einmal Besichtigungstermine und ständige Fragen der Beklagten nach einem Auszug und Androhung einer Räumungsklage auf sich nehmen muss, die Beklagte dann vielleicht wieder, wie die Klägerin dies schon einmal erfahren musste, eine Kündigung ohne nähere Begründung „fallen lässt“.
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IV. Zuständigkeit, Streitwert
1. Die Zuständigkeit des Amtsgerichts ergibt sich aus § 23 Nr. 2 Buchst. a) GVG. Die örtliche Zuständigkeit des angerufenen Gerichts ergibt sich aus § 29a Abs. 1 ZPO.
2. Der Streitwert ergibt sich aus § 41 GKG. Bei der negativen Feststellungsklage ist der volle Wert anzusetzen. Gerichtskosten in entsprechender Höhe sind der Klageschrift beigefügt.
V. Sonstiges
Falls das Gericht weiteren Vortrag für erforderlich hält, bitte ich höflich um einen richterlichen Hinweis.
Dr. Genervtle
Rechtsanwalt
Eine beglaubigte und eine einfache Abschrift anbei
