Facts
The case concerns two members of the board of directors of a company that ran into financial difficulties and was therefore unable to pay the AHV (Old Age and Survivors' Insurance) contributions for three months. The Compensation Fund Lucerne and the Administrative Court of the Canton of Lucerne had ordered the board members to pay damages. The board members appealed this decision to the Federal Supreme Court.
The Federal Supreme Court overturned the decisions of the lower instances and rejected the liability for damages of the board members. It justified this by stating that not every violation of the obligation to pay contributions should automatically be considered as qualified fault within the meaning of Art. 52 AHVG. Rather, an overall assessment of all the circumstances of the individual case is required. This also includes the relatively short duration of the contribution arrears of three months, which speaks against a serious misconduct.
The board members had always fulfilled their AHV obligations up to the bankruptcy of the company and only failed to pay the contributions in the last three months before the bankruptcy was opened. The Federal Supreme Court did not see this as a serious violation of the law, as…