Liability for damages also when providing planning services without any commissioning
> October 2014
Who provides additional planning services without any authorization to do so, has to provide them in a defect-free condition. Otherwise you can be liable for damages. If you have taken on the planning as a favour, limitation of liability is excluded even if the services have been rendered without any remuneration.
This decision made by the Higher Regional Court Stuttgart in 2012 has recently become final and absolute.A structural engineer had been instructed with structural design. In addition, he drafted a plan for tendering a pit lining. However, he was not obligated under the contract to do so. The planning had low quality. On the one hand, the plot boundaries had not been marked, on the other hand, the position of the electric cables in the neighbouring street had not been shown correctly. During execution of the construction works based on the structural engineer's planning it was established that the cables were to be laid for the further pit lining. The start of construction works was delayed, and the principal incurred costs due to this delay. The structural engineer was ordered to pay damages despite the information on the plan that the location of the electric cables was to be checked on the spot or the objection that the builder owner was also guilty because the architect had been negligent when co-ordinating and supervising the works.