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Kanzlei Verbracken & Partner
Tort claims (§ 823 BGB)
A damages claim can be treated differently from an ordinary contractual debt. Legal basis, intent, procedural rules and the relevant country are decisive.
§ 823 BGB: liability and fault
Section 823(1) BGB concerns unlawful infringements of protected rights such as life, health and property; paragraph 2 concerns breaches of protective statutes. Liability may also arise from negligence. A claim under § 823 BGB is therefore not necessarily an intentional tort excluded from discharge under § 302 InsO. The legal basis, fault and proof of claim require separate assessment.
The German exception under section 302 InsO
In Germany, liabilities arising from intentional torts are excluded from discharge subject to section 302 InsO. Creditors must file the specific legal basis accordingly. Merely calling a claim tort-based does not replace proof of the facts supporting it.
Filing, objection and judgments
Review the proof of claim, insolvency table entry and existing judgments together. Challenging the legal basis differs from challenging the amount. Have court notices and deadlines assessed promptly by a lawyer. A criminal conviction and a civil judgment are also distinct.
Cross-border effects
For foreign proceedings, applicable insolvency law, recognition and specific exceptions must be examined together. A German exclusion implies neither identical treatment abroad nor guaranteed discharge there. We combine analysis of the claim with assessment of a realistic international option.
Sources and legal foundations
Sources checked: 14 September 2026
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