processes
Fear is not enough: Court against dismantling ATMs
A blown up ATM in a bank building in Heidelberg. Photo: René Priebe/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Again and again ATMs are blown up. But this is only an abstract danger, judges the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
In Düsseldorf, homeowners have unsuccessfully sued for the dismantling of an ATM – for fear of gangsters. On Monday, the higher regional court ruled in favor of the bank, which operates the machine with a branch on the ground floor of the property.
The plaintiff couple, who own two-thirds of the apartment building in Ratingen near Düsseldorf, fear significant damage to the building should this machine be blown up by gangsters. This is “an abstract mathematical risk, but not a concrete one. There is no evidence of an explosion, »said the presiding judge Joachim Unger. However, the number of explosive attacks on ATMs in North Rhine-Westphalia has multiplied this year compared to the beginning of the previous year.
The possible danger does not play a role, according to the court. The decisive factor is that all the owners of the house agreed to the operation of a bank branch in the declaration of division in 1971, even if there were no ATMs at the time. “The fact that there has been an ATM there for five years does not contradict that,” said the presiding judge.
The court advised the plaintiff spouses to come to an agreement with the third homeowner and to change the declaration of division accordingly. Then the dismantling of the ATM could be enforced. The couple had previously been rebuffed in the first instance before the district court. The judgment is final.