Facts
In the issue of June 8, 1988 of the daily newspaper "Tages-Anzeiger", an article was published about the disappearance of pension fund money at Eschler-Urania AG. The article contained a section that linked Ralph Schmid, the former owner of Eschler-Urania AG, to the incident. Thereupon, Schmid had his lawyer submit a reply text and demand that the editorial office of the newspaper publish it, threatening legal action.
The newspaper rejected the request in a letter dated July 12, 1988, citing Art. 28i para. 1 ZGB as the reason for the late submission. Schmid renewed his request on July 15, 1988, which the newspaper again rejected in its response dated July 22, 1988, this time on the grounds that the publication of the desired reply was also rejected for substantive reasons.
Thereupon, Schmid filed a lawsuit against Tages-Anzeiger für Stadt und Kanton Zürich AG with the single judge in the summary proceedings of the District of Zurich on August 24, 1988, with the aim of obliging the defendant to publish the reply he had demanded.
Considerations
The Cantonal Court of Zurich confirmed the dismissal of the lawsuit by the court of first instance. The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by the plaintiff.
The Federal Supreme Court stated that while a rigid deadline for filing a lawsuit for the publication of a reply was deliberately omitted from the law, it was justified to assume, after the expiration of a period of twenty days from the final…