Graf von Westphalen wins a case for the Hamburg Parliament
In a ruling issued on March 28, 2012, the Hamburg Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the Parliament of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and threw out an expedited motion filed against the legislative body.
The plaintiff, a member of the Parliament, had sought to prevent the Parliament from making a decision regarding capital measures proposed by the city-state's executive branch, or Senate, that are related to Hapag-Lloyd Holding AG. The lawmaker argued that he had received insufficient information about the plan and requested that the vote be postponed for a month.
The Parliament was represented in the case by the attorney Dr. Ronald Steiling and Professor Dr. Christian Winterhoff, both of whom are partners at Graf von Westphalen. Among other arguments, they challenged the admissibility of the expedited petition. The Hamburg Constitutional Court agreed with all aspects of their arguments. In the ruling that threw out the motion as "evidently inadmissible," the court said that a single member of Parliament had no right to remove a particular item from the Parliament's order of business or to delay consideration of such an item in opposition to a majority decision made by the Parliament. As a result, the ruling underscored the principle of majority rule contained in the constitution and strengthened the Parliament's ability to conduct its legislative business.
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