Facts
Furler was the sole member of the board of directors of company [M. AG], a subsidiary of company A. Holding AG, from January 1, 1982. He resigned from this mandate with immediate effect on September 6, 1982, but the publication in the commercial register was not made until February 22, 1983. On March 10, 1983, company [M. AG] went bankrupt, and on April 21, 1983, the bankruptcy proceedings were discontinued due to lack of assets. In this process, the Compensation Fund Basel-City suffered a loss of a contribution claim of CHF ...
By decision of February 7, 1985, the Cantonal Appeal Commission for Compensation Funds largely upheld the compensation claim of the Compensation Fund, whereupon Furler filed an administrative court appeal.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court examined whether Furler, as the sole member of the board of directors of company [M. AG], was liable for damages for the unpaid social security contributions. It concluded that despite the delegation of certain functions to third parties, Furler as the sole member of the board of directors could not delegate the responsibility for monitoring the payment of contributions. His argument that he had no insight into the accounting and payment transactions was considered by the Federal Supreme Court as gross negligence.
However, Furler was only…