Facts
The appellant [A.] purchased the shares of [B. GmbH] from the respondents [X.] and [Y.] for CHF 95,000 in August 2013. At that time, the appellant had been in Switzerland for nine years and had only rudimentary knowledge of German and no business experience. [B. GmbH] was over-indebted and the appellant had no knowledge of the company's financial situation.
The respondents had provided the appellant with documents that would have enabled him to assess the company's financial situation. However, due to his inexperience and limited knowledge of German, the appellant was not able to interpret the documents correctly.
The High Court of the Canton of Bern acquitted the respondents of the charge of usury, as it was of the opinion that the appellant was not in a significant weakness situation and that the respondents had not profited from the appellant's inexperience.
Considerations
The Federal Court overturned the judgment of the High Court and referred the case back to the lower court for a new decision. The Federal Court found that the lower court had violated federal law by not considering the appellant as inexperienced within the meaning of Art. 157 para. 1 SCC.
The Federal Court established that the appellant was unable to assess the financial situation of [B. GmbH] due to his inexperience and limited knowledge of German. The fact that the appellant acted together with [C.] did not change the fact that the appellant was inexperienced.
The Federal Court also found that…