Rottweil Regional Court
Man sues Biontech for 150,000 euros in damages – judge dismisses vaccine damage lawsuit
The vaccine damage lawsuit in Rottweil is not the first lawsuit of its kind in Germany
© Sven Hoppe / DPA
A man is suing Biontech for 150,000 euros in compensation. His accusation: He became almost completely blind in his right eye after a corona vaccination. The Rottweil regional court has now made a judgment.
The chamber therefore did not have to decide whether the eye attack suffered was caused by the corona vaccine. According to the law, the vaccine manufacturer is liable for side effects if the drug, when used as intended, has harmful effects that go beyond what is acceptable according to scientific knowledge or if the damage occurred as a result of labeling, specialist information or instructions for use that do not correspond to the scientific standard. The court decided that the plaintiff had not provided sufficient justification for both requirements.
Lawsuit against Biontech: Plaintiff’s justification is insufficient
The plaintiff was therefore unable to provide information requested by the chamber on alleged errors in the approval process or on new scientific findings that would lead to a changed assessment of the benefit-risk ratio. Instead, he relied on unprovable suspected reports of vaccine damage, individual opinions taken from the Internet, non-scientific opinions from doctors he had commissioned, and factually inaccurate criticism of the safety reports from the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which is responsible for vaccines.
In response to the plaintiff’s accusation that the vaccine was particularly dangerous, the chamber stated that the information in the vaccine manufacturer’s instructions for use, according to which the occurrence of side effects unknown upon approval could not be reliably ruled out, was sufficient. According to the court, liability for negligent health impairment is not based on a breach of duty or fault. The plaintiff can appeal the judgment to the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court within one month.
This is not the first trial of its kind in Germany. And it is not the first decision by a court in this context.