Source: http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/judgments/tgcm/z980402.htm
Timestamp: 2018-01-23 03:37:25
Document Index: 507616183

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 322', '§ 320', '§ 323', '§ 323', '§ 323', '§ 10', '§ 323', '§ 323']

BGH judgment of 2.4.1998 - III ZR 245/96
Later irregularities in STN's accounting came to light. H had at the end of 1991 incorrectly credited nine sums for a total of almost 25 million DM. The final annual accounts, for which the defendants issued a limited note of confirmation on the 30th March 1993 in accordance with § 322 HGB, showed a deficit of 11,049,361.15 DM instead of a surplus of 2,666,467.37 DM.
Insofar as the duty to compensate for harm is extended to connected undertakings, this would rest - as a correlative - on this undertaking's duty of presentation and provision of information to the auditor of the accounts for the group in accordance with § 320 para 2 sentence 2 of the HGB [references omitted]; the connected undertaking's entitlement to compensation presupposes that the auditor is violating a duty incumbent on him and owed to the connected undertaking [references omitted]. An extension of the duty to compensate to further third parties for harm by way of interpretation or analogy would therefore be forbidden [references omitted].
Besides this, an extension of the liability to shareholders/members or creditors of the company would run counter to the goal of - in cases of negligent breach of duty - limiting the risk of liability of the auditor (§ 323 para 2 of the HGB). It would give rise to concern that the company would have to share its claims, which are in any case limited, with third parties [reference omitted].
aa) The appeal court takes into consideration (correctly here) the principles according to which protective duties can arise from a contract for the benefit of a third party, who himself has no claim to the main obligation under the contract. The case law has in particular accepted such protective effects for contracts by which the client commissions a report or an expert's opinion from a person who has at his disposal a particular specialist knowledge recognised by the state (eg publicly appointed expert, auditor, tax adviser) in order to make use of it as against a third party [references omitted].
As the purpose of the report is to induce trust in and possess evidential value for the third party, a conflict of the interests of the client and the third party is not an obstacle to the latter's incorporation into the protective area of the contract [reference omitted].
bb) Nor does § 323 of the HGB create a material exclusionary effect against liability of the auditor in the run up to the issue of the certificate. The provision does not for instance connect the liability to the issue of the certificate as such; it presupposes instead a fault-based breach of duty in the carrying out of the audit in accordance with paragraph 1 sentences 1 and 2. Whether - in the relationship of the auditor to the company - mistakes in the context of the notification of a certificate are included as well, can be left undecided. There is in any case no ground for leaving the trust (which is worthy of protection) of a third party, who has been included within the protected area of the audit contract, that such a publication is correct simply without any sanction in liability law.
cc) Certainly, the legislative intention which is expressed in § 323 of the HGB to limit appropriately the risk of the auditor's liability needs to be considered within the framework of the auditor's contractual liability to third parties. Incorporating an unknown number of creditors, members or acquirers of shares within the protective area of the audit task would militate against this. It cannot be assumed as a rule that the auditor will be ready to take on such an extensive risk of liability.
Besides this the appeal court considers the statements of the witnesses called by the defendants, in particular in relation to the calculation of the purchase price in the purchase contract, to be contrary to logic and experience and does not consider the plaintiff's argument on this issue. The circumstance that no special point of reference was established for the value of STN in the calculation of the purchase price and the piece of land included was the decisive valuation factor for the calculation of the purchase price does not justify the conclusion expressed by the appeal court that it was a matter of indifference to the purchaser whether STN had a value at all.
In § 10 of the purchase contract the seller warrants that the principles of proper accounting had been observed and to his knowledge no liabilities of the business existed which were not evident from the accounts. The appeal in law correctly points out that this provision argues against the appeal court's assumption that the operative value of STN was without any significance for the purchase price. In the face of this provision and the fact that STN's inadequate financial cover existing at the end of 1991 could only be balanced by the bringing in of the business premises, it cannot be denied that the breach of duty by the defendants (which was accepted by the appeal court) caused the purchase decision on the basis which it gave. In fact, there is a prima facie case in favour of it.
b) Also, if the appeal court had doubts about whether the breach of duty caused the purchase decision, it should not have disregarded the evidence of the witness Dr. B. who was called on this issue. Even if the negotiations about the purchase of the shares in the business were concluded on the 8th October 1992, the parties to the purchase contract were only finally bound by the documentation of the 12th October 1992. Therefore events between these two points in time could still be of importance. This applies for instance to the bringing in of the real property company by the seller on the day of the documentation of the purchase contract. Further, the appeal court itself - in spite of the conclusion of the negotiations on the 8th October 1992 - proceeds decisively on the basis that the defendants' letter of the 9th October 1992 was a ground of liability.
3. The appeal in law also correctly objects to the fact that the appeal court has denied damage. The deliberations of the appeal court are based in this respect on the legally incorrect idea that the shares in the business of STN were, insofar as they concerned the operative value of the company, without significance for the calculation of the purchase price, and it was only a matter of the value of the business premises which had been included. Whether damage has resulted to the purchaser, which has asserted that if it had been correctly informed about the circumstances of STN at the end of 1991 it would not have acquired the shares in the business or would only have acquired them for a symbolic purchase price of 1 DM, can only be established by inclusion of the value of the undertaking as a whole. It cannot be ascertained solely by the purchase price which has been paid - as the claim of the plaintiff seems to suggest - nor solely by the value of the business premises which has been brought in.
The Senate cannot make a decision in the case itself, because further findings by the judge of fact are necessary on the questions addressed under I. The appeal court will also have to investigate the argument of the defendants that the purchaser had been informed about the business circumstances of STN and it was in any case attributable to it as contributory fault that it had had no intermediate status report prepared. It will further have the opportunity within the framework of its new assessment to go into the question again of whether a claim by the plaintiff can be based on an information contract or on tort. Where liability which is merely based on the protective effect of the audit contract is being considered, the limitation of liability in § 323 para 2 of the HGB is to be taken into account. This is because the provisions of § 323 of the HGB - in this respect also - take precedence as a special regime over the contract law provisions of civil law [references omitted].