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In today's decision the Hamburg Regional Court ruled that the Klitschko brothers' contracts are now
terminated. Contrary to Universum Box Promotion, who maintained that its contracts with Vladimir
and Vitali Klitschko had been extended to 22.02.2005 and 20.05.2005 respectively, judge Dr
Mückenheim held that the contracts had in fact ended considerably earlier (Vladimir Klitschko:
22.06.2004, Vitali Klitschko: 22.10.2004).
In so doing the court has ruled that the Klitschkos and their contractual partners were not
acting in breach of contract in the fights in October (Vladimir) and last weekend (Vitali) because
the contracts with Universum had already come to an end beforehand. Moreover, the Klitschkos need
no longer fear claims for compensation from Universum.
After the decision had been announced Vitali Klitschko said,
"We are pleased and satisfied that it is at last clear that our contracts with Universum have
come to an end and that they were ended before our last fights. We can now plan our sporting and
professional careers completely unburdened by this dispute and need no longer fear compensation
claims."
The Klitschkos' lawyer Dr Sebastian Cording of law firm CMS Hasche Sigle commented on the
decision as follows:
"In his decision, which he did not make lightly, Dr Mückenheim has displayed the wisdom of
Solomon. The court repeatedly tried to induce Universum to settle and has now reached a decision
which ultimately comes close to a settlement. We still hold the view that the agreements ended on
30.04.2004, but in practical terms we have achieved what we set out to achieve in these
proceedings. We see this decision as a victory on points, although Universum could actually have
emerged with more if it had gone for settlement."
Contact CMS Hasche Sigle:
Dr Sebastian Cording
Stadthausbrücke 1-3
20355 Hamburg
Tel.: +49 (0)40 / 376 30-325
Fax: +49 (0)40 / 376 30 -40525
E-mail:
Sebastian.Cording@cms-hs.com
Background:
CMS Hasche Sigle is one of the leading German law firms with more than 350 lawyers. It covers
the entire area of commercial law and provides legal advice to major German and international
companies from a wide spectrum of industry.
CMS Hasche Sigle operates at all the major business centres. It has offices in Berlin,
Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Stuttgart, Chemnitz, Dresden, Brussels, Belgrade,
Moscow, Prague and Shanghai.
The law firm is a founding partner of CMS, a European association of reputable law firms with
more than 1,900 lawyers. In addition to CMS Hasche Sigle, the following firms are also members of
the CMS association: CMS Adonnino Ascoli & Cavasola Scamoni (Italy), CMS Albiñana & Suárez
de Lezo (Spain), CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre (France), CMS Cameron McKenna (UK), CMS Derks Star
Busmann (the Netherlands), CMS von Erlach Klainguti Stettler Wille (Switzerland), CMS Lexcelis
(Belgium) and CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz (Austria) with a total of 56 offices in 24 jurisdictions.
This network enables CMS Hasche Sigle to offer integrated and extensive legal advice for
cross-border projects.
Further information:
CMS Hasche Sigle Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten und Steuerberatern
Contact details/List of partners at
www.cms-hs.com
