Court reduces compensation for Kachelmann
Bild-Zeitung must pay weather presenter Jörg Kachelmann less than stipulated in the first instance for reporting on the trial against him. This was decided by the Cologne Higher Regional Court on Tuesday.
In the first instance, the Cologne Regional Court had awarded him 635,000 euros. The new amount is 513,000 euros including interest. The Swiss weather presenter Kachelmann was acquitted of rape charges in 2011. In its coverage of his trial, Bild-Zeitung had, in the judges' view, repeatedly overstepped the bounds of what was permissible in its print edition and online and seriously violated Kachelmann's right of personality. However, neither the Regional Court nor the Higher Regional Court could recognize a targeted campaign by Springer together with other media. The highest compensation to date in a similar case was 400'000 euros for the Swedish Princess Madeleine, a ruling by the Hamburg Higher Regional Court in 2009. (hae/SDA)
