Facts
Adalbert Fleckenstein delivered and installed heating and cooling insulations in buildings of the University of Zurich based on a contract for work dated 13 April 1976. On 10 May 1979, the provisional acceptance of the work took place. Over time, defects in the form of rust formation on the cooling pipes occurred, which the Canton of Zurich as the client complained about. The Canton of Zurich sued for reimbursement of the work fee and compensation for the costs of the substitute performance.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court found that the client's complaints about defects were made in a timely manner. For the defects discovered in January 1982, the client should have been granted a deadline of about one week to complain about the defects, as the rust damage initially only appeared sporadically and the client had to observe the development before he could make a sufficiently substantiated complaint. Also, the complaint of 30 March 1984 regarding the defects in the main riser lines was made within a period of five working days and was therefore timely.
The…