Rejection of the press company's request not to publish the response

Facts

Prior to the elections for the National Council on 18 October 1987, the "Badener Tagblatt" published a press release on the "Green Alliance", stating that the Progressive Organizations (POCH) constituted its "backbone in terms of personnel and program". The "Greens Aargau" group and Hanspeter Thür, a member of this group, then requested the president of the district court of Baden to order the "Badener Tagblatt" to publish their response, in which they stated that the assertion that the POCH formed the "backbone" of the "Green Alliance" was devoid of any factual basis. The president of the court ordered the publication of the response by an interim decision. The "Badener Tagblatt" appealed against this decision, which was rejected by the cantonal court and the Federal Court.

Considerations

The Federal Court confirmed that the press company had a legitimate interest in having the decision ordering it to publish a response examined, even if the response had already been published. Indeed, it would be hardly understandable that the press company could not have the decision ordering it to publish a response examined, due to the exclusion of the suspensive effect provided for in Art. 281 para. 4 CC, in the interest of a rapid publication of the response.

On the merits, the Federal Court ruled that the assertion…