Facts
On May 16, 2014, the B. Cooperative (plaintiff, respondent) filed a lawsuit against A. (defendant, appellant) for payment of amounts from a current account credit that the plaintiff had granted to the bankrupt C. GmbH. The defendant had personally guaranteed the credit as the sole proprietor of this company. The defendant requested the complete dismissal of the lawsuit and requested legal aid.
The Regional Court dismissed the request for legal aid, as the request for complete dismissal of the lawsuit was considered hopeless. Only with regard to the disputed interest and expense debt (CHF 873.40 and CHF 376.00 respectively) was there a prospect of success. The High Court of the Canton of Bern confirmed this decision.
Considerations
The Federal Court states that according to case law, legal aid can also be partially granted in case of only partial hopelessness. This applies in particular when several independent legal claims are made, which can be assessed independently of each other.
However, in this case it was a single legal claim, for which the…