Court case 8 U 94/22 – Court Ruling (Germany, 2023)

The plaintiff was a member of the defendant, a registered association with approximately 5,500 members, and requested that the association transferred a list containing the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of the association's members directly to them, i.e. without the involvement of a trustee. These data were necessary in preparation for the association's general meeting. The plaintiff's concern was to contact other members to organize opposition to the actions of the association's board. Following the general meeting, the plaintiff also intended to contact members in the same manner in order to initiate the calling of an extraordinary general meeting, pursuant to § 37(1) of the German Civil Code. After the Dortmund Regional Court denied the plaintiff's claim to transmission of the list of members, the plaintiff appealed to the Hamm Higher Regional Court (OLG Hamm). The court sustained the appeal. Interestingly, the court examined the dispute first from an association law perspective and then from a data protection perspective. National law (association law) First, the court stated that a claim requires a legitimate interest of the association member, which must not be outweighed by any secrecy interests of the association or legitimate interests of the association members in the context of a comprehensive weighing of interests in the individual case. The basic interest involved in this case, the organization of an opposition to the policy of the defendant's association board, must be considered as legitimate. This interest requires to get in contact with the other members also outside of the meeting of the members, for example in order to motivate these to participate in those meetings in the first place. In particular, the plaintiff had a legitimate interest in obtaining the e-mail addresses, since e-mail communication enables an almost free, direct, individualized exchange practically without time delay, but at the same time also asynchronous communicati