Revocation of the Debt Collection Proceedings against the Appellant

Facts

The appellant [X.] filed a constitutional appeal against the judgment of the District Court Presidency of Prättigau/Davos of 19 November 2004, which dismissed his request for the revocation of two debt collection proceedings initiated against him. The opposing party [Y.] had initiated two debt collection proceedings against [X.] amounting to a total of around CHF 1.8 million. [X.] claimed that the debt from a loan agreement dated 16 February 1998 and 26 February 1999 had been extinguished by an agreement dated 4 February 2004.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court upheld the constitutional appeal. It first found that in the proceedings under Art. 85 DEBA, only documentary evidence is admissible. However, the District Court Presidency had also admitted other means of proof such as written information, inspections and party statements. Furthermore, it had assumed that the opposing party had been in a material error with regard to the agreement of 4 February 2004, without providing documentary evidence for this.

Furthermore, the Federal Supreme Court criticised that the District Court Presidency had arbitrarily…