EU Law Cannot Be Used By Serial Litigants for Claiming Compensation Only

EU law cannot be relied upon for abusive or fraudulent ends.

This was the unsurprising finding reached by the ECJ in the case of Mr Katzer v R+V Allegemeine Versicherung AG, sending out a very clear deterrent message to any potential serial or opportunist litigants.

In this case, Mr Kratzer, who had many years work experience, applied for a job as a ‘graduate trainee’. He was not invited for an interview and the company said that they were unable to offer him a post. In response he wrote to the company alleging age discrimination and demanding compensation of EUR 14,000. The company then invited him in for an interview stating that its initial rejection letter had been automatically generated and was not in line with its intentions.

Mr Kratzer declined the invitation and suggested a discussion about his future once the company had paid him compensation. Having then learnt that the company had awarded the four trainee posts to women, Mr Katzer demanded further compensation of EUR 3,500 for sex discrimination. The company refused and Mr Katzer sued them. His claim proceeded all the way to the German Court of Appeal, which referred the matter to the European Court of Justice.

The ECJ reviewed the rationale behind the Equal Treatment directive which was, in essence, to provide protection from discrimination (on the grounds of sex, race, age, disability, sexual orientation) for those seeking employment.  The ECJ found that given the circumstances, Mr Katzer was clearly not seeking to obtain the post for which he applied but rather to obtain the legal status of ‘applicant’ which would allow him to bring a claim for compensation. Such a person, according to the ECJ, cannot rely on the protection offered by the Equal Treatment Directive. They further decided that such a person could not be regarded as a ‘victim’ within the meaning of the legislation or a ‘person injured’ having sustained ‘loss’ or ‘damage’. Moreover, said the ECJ, according to settled case law of the Court, EU law cannot be relied on for abusive or fraudulent ends.

This is a perfectly sensible and well-reasoned decision and should act as a deterrent to any potential vexatious litigants seeking to abuse the law solely to claim compensation.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:62015CJ0423&qid=1471339974900&from=EN