Facts
The dispute concerns the question of whether Edith V., the plaintiff, was a responsible body of the joint-stock company A. AG, whose bankruptcy resulted in losses for the compensation fund due to the non-payment of federal social security contributions. Although Edith V. was registered in the commercial register with individual signing authority for company A. AG, recent case law and doctrine consider that registration in the commercial register or signing authority alone are not sufficient to establish the status of a responsible body. What is decisive is whether the person concerned has made decisions reserved for the responsible bodies or has taken charge of the actual management, thus participating in a decisive manner in the formation of the company's will.Considerations
According to case law and doctrine, the status of a responsible body does not depend on formal criteria, but on the role actually played by the person within the company. Only those persons who make important decisions for the company or who participate in a decisive manner in the management can be considered as responsible bodies, regardless of their registration in the commercial register or their signing authority.
In the present case, the file elements do not allow to establish that the plaintiff Edith V. exercised the functions of a responsible body within the company A. AG. The mere fact of…