LHR obtains preliminary injunction against “Anlegerschutzkanzlei” for false press release

Arno Lampmann

Einstweilige Verfügung gegen Anlegerschutzkanzlei Falsche Pressemitteilung

Time and again we report on cases of unfair advertising by “investor protection law firms” or other media that are – actually or only ostensibly – committed to consumer protection.

You can make a lot of money quickly with investment law

Investment law is one of the areas in which lawyers with business acumen and few scruples can quickly earn a lot of money.

Due to the often high investment sums, there are numerous potential clients whose “support” does not require individually coordinated legal work in individual cases due to the comparability of the cases, but can often be “provided” with the help of ready-made letters and statements of claim.

In addition, many investors have legal expenses insurance that covers the costs of legal advice – regardless of its success.

The basic prerequisite for the money blessing is, of course, a case – preferably a scandalous one – in which as many investors as possible can be advised out of court or, at best, represented in court proceedings. If such a case does not exist, the resourceful “investor protection lawyer” does everything in his power to create one.

Sometimes there are good reasons to doubt the prospects of success of an investment. These do not even have to be due to bad faith on the part of the provider. Legal advice is therefore often a recommendable step. However, the persistence with which certain law firms solicit clients in disregard of basic legal regulations also shows how lucrative the “investor protection” business area is.

Cases of unlawful solicitation/reporting are piling up – over 300 cases in recent years

In recent years, we have conducted well over 300 proceedings for our clients against initiators of unlawful advertising or reporting, including not only dubious media, but also Stiftung Warentest, the Google search engine and, regrettably, numerous colleagues; the majority of these proceedings have been successful.

If matters cannot be resolved out of court, legal action is unavoidable. Fortunately, however, a high success rate can also be recorded here, as courts have now recognized the damage that can be caused to investors, not least by unlawful statements in public, and therefore immediately prohibit them by way of interim legal protection.

In recent years, we have highlighted the following cases in particular in our LHR magazine:

Current case: Press release from investor protection law firm about false company

In a recent case, an investor protection law firm already known to us from numerous other cases wanted to “strike back” and obtained an interim injunction against one of our clients before a regional court due to an allegedly incorrect press release. However, the press release hastily issued by the law firm did not name the client by mistake, but another company, which of course did not agree with this false statement.

Following an unsuccessful warning, the regional court again immediately issued a temporary injunction for unfair, disparaging advertising (LG Hamburg, Beschluss v. 2.6.2016, Az. 312 O 247/16). The law firm faces a fine of up to EUR 250,000 for non-compliance. The decision is not final. The amount in dispute was set at EUR 20,000.