Gleiss Lutz has successfully defended the state of North Rhine-Westphalia before the Cologne Administrative Court against a lawsuit brought by the Asklepios Children's Hospital in Sankt Augustin (“Asklepios”) seeking the repayment of allegedly unlawful subsidies from University Hospital Bonn.
Asklepios had sought the revocation of the subsidy notices and an obligation on the state to recover subsidies for the University Hospital Bonn and to refrain from providing financial support in the future. The subsidy from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, amounting to up to EUR 350 million, enabled, inter alia, the construction of a parent-child center, including a pediatric heart center, at the UKB. The Administrative Court has now dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety.
The legal proceedings are part of a long-standing dispute between Asklepios and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Gleiss Lutz had already successfully defended the state in 2022 against the civil action brought by Asklepios before the Regional Court of Bonn. The Administrative Court has now dealt with the allegation of illegal financing of the university hospital in violation of EU state aid law and constitutional and hospital law requirements. The case attracted attention because of its economic dimension and its fundamental significance for the area of competitor lawsuits.
The following Gleiss Lutz team has advised and represented the State of North Rhine-Westphalia:
Dr. Reimar Buchner (partner), Dr. Julia Hornung (both Public Law/Healthcare & Life Sciences, both Berlin), Dr. Ulrich Soltész (partner), Dr. Christina Wolf (both Competition/Antitrust/State Aid, both Brussels), Dr. Matthias Sonntag (partner, Unfair Competition Law, Düsseldorf).
Gleiss Lutz has been providing extensive advice in the area of healthcare and life sciences, particularly hospital financing, and EU state aid law for many years.
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