Action before the due date - procedural costs

The Constitutional Court has dealt with the question of the obligation to reimburse the costs of procedure if the action was brought before the due date of the debt. In the relevant case, the debt was paid after the bringing of action, but still before its due date.

 The first two instances applied the following rule: If the debt is paid after the action was brought, the debtor bears the procedural costs (see § 146 para. 2 of the code of civil procedure). In this case, however, the Constitutional Court came to the conclusion that the action before the due date was early and therefore unjustifiable. Therefore, no reimbursement of costs could be assigned to the applicant.